Cuvée presentation
Donated by Hombo Shuzo
This year, Mars offers an exclusive lot of three bottles, only available through a lucky draw across its three production and ageing sites: Komagatake, Tsunuki and Yakushima.
These exceptional spirits were created in the two Mars distilleries: Komagatake (1985) and Tsunuki (2016). They were aged both on site and on the tropical island of Yakushima, in the south of Kyushu.
Local Barley Komagatake (55%)
Founded in 1985, the Komagatake distillery, previously named Shinshu, stands at an altitude of 798 metres at the foot of Mount Komagatake in the central Nagano Alps. This unique geographic location allows it to take advantage of an exceptional Japanese climate for the production of whisky, marked by strong variations in temperature. In May 2024, the distillery organised its first festival, offering 700 exclusive bottles through a lottery system. This single malt is made exclusively using local malted barley, grown in the Kamiina region, and it reveals fresh, fruity aromas of green apple and persimmon fruit, with a hint of honey.
Local Barley Tsunuki (55%)
Tsunuki, the southernmost whisky distillery in mainland Japan, is nestled in the green mountains in the south-west of the Satsuma Peninsula. It benefits from a gentle climate and sources of pure water, contributing to the excellent ageing of its whiskies. In November 2023, to celebrate its seventh anniversary, the Tsunuki Distillery Festival offered an exclusive single malt made from local two-row barley grown in the Minami-Satsuma wilderness. This whisky is a homage to the abundance of the natural resources in the region, its climate that is ideal for growing barley, and the spring water from Mount Kurata. Only 580 bottles are available during the festival via a lottery system. This single malt expresses rich and dense notes of juicy fruits (fresh apples, lemon), with a wonderful acidity and highly refined texture.
Yakushima Art Collection #01 (51%)
Yakushima island, located in the south of Kyushu and nicknamed the Alps of the Ocean, is known for the beauty of its diverse landscapes. Its coral reefs and alpine forests have inspired many artists, including Hayao Miyazaki for the backdrops of his animated cartoon Princesse Mononoké (1997). Its subtropical climate, with extreme temperature variations, makes it an ideal place to experiment with whisky ageing. This Tsunuki single malt, aged for 5 years in Yakushima in bourbon casks, is only available at the distillery with a limited series of 380 bottles. The label, called “Sekaiju" meaning the world tree, is a creation by Minetoma Haruka, an artist originally from the island. Powerful and exotic, a reflection of Yakushima itself, this single malt has fruity (peach, mandarin) and mineral notes.
The distillery Mars - Shinshu
Japan, Nagano. Distillery operational. Owner: Hombo Shuzo Co. Ltd.
Founded in 1985, Mars-Shinshu had been a distillery in-the-making since 1918. Its history has something of the “back to the future” about it. In 1918, Kijiro Iwai, director of Settsu Shozu, sent Masataka Taketsuru to Scotland to learn the basics of distillation. On his return in 1920, he found his employer at the head of a company that had gone adrift. Settsu Shozu was unable to follow through on its plans for a new distillery and in the end it was Shinjiro Torii (Suntory) that benefited from Taketsuru's experience first, using it to found the Yamazaki distillery. In 1960, Kijiro Iwai's son-in-law, then director of the Hombo company, decided to take up the challenge. Drawing on the experience of his father-in-law and Taketsuru's notes, he began distilling a robust, smoky malt at one of his wine and brandy production units in Yamanashi. Quite unsuited to the tastes of Japanese consumers at the time who were accustomed to more subtle flavours, it was a commercial failure. In 1978, however, he made a second attempt at the Kagoshima site, before finally deciding to open Mars-Shinshu in 1985. Caught up in the upheaval of a crisis in whisky consumption in Japan, the distillery ceased production in 1992. In 2011, following major restoration work, Mars-Shinshu then opened once again, this time for the long run.
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