Mars Shinshu was founded in 1949 but didn’t start making whisky until their distillery was nestled high in the Japanese Alps in 1985. Iwai is a blend of mostly corn and some malted barley. It is aged entirely in used bourbon barrels. A rich golden colour whisky with light, sweet, and floral fragrances with notes of dark cacao and sweet pear. A beautifully soft body and underlying flavours of allspice and dried fig. Aged in sherry, bourbon, and American white oaks.

Located high in the Japanese Alps in Nagano Prefecture, the Mars Shinshu distillery has beer brewery Minami Shishu Brewery as its neighbour. Both the whisky distillery and craft brewery use pure mineral water from the mountain in their facilities and production. Whisky maturation is encouraged by short hot summers, with long cold winters providing a slow and gentle maturation and a break. For the 2020 release of the Mars Komagatake IPA Cask Finish Single Malt Japanese Whisky, traditional oak barrels were used for the 3 year maturation. Following this, the single malt is aged further in casks used for the production of Indian Pale Ale. This provides a subtle and unique essence of beer character.

Special single cask whisky - distilled at Mars Whisky's Shinshu Distillery in Nagano Prefecture in 2013 and aged in Bourbon barrel in stone cellar at Tsunuki Distillery in tropical Kagoshima Prefecture till 2017. Excellent balance between sweetness from Bourbon barrel and its peat character with citrus character like orange and kumquat. Beautiful expression of tropical environment, full body leads sweet finish with hint of roasted nuts and biscuits or custard.

Mars Iwai Tradition Japanese Whisky is soft and rounded, yet full bodied and mellow. The nose gives sweet honey, leading to a complex, peaty full bodied palate which gives sweet peat, orange marmalade, maple, burnt sugar cane, cedar and cigar.

This is Mars Komagatake Single Malt ‘Wine Cask Finish’ was produced in collaboration with Voyager Estate from the famous Margaret River region located in Western Australia. Only 924 bottles have been produced. This is the 2nd collaboration and this special whisky is sold only in Australia and Japan. This Single Malt was distilled at Mars Shinshu Distillery in 2016 in Nagano Prefecture and matured in a bourbon barrel for more than 3 years. It was then aged for another 15 months in French Troncais oak. This oak cask was previously used to age Voyager Estate’s flagship red wine, their ‘MJW’ Cabernet Sauvignon, and was sent to Japan in early 2020 once the wine came out of the cask. This special whisky shows the harmony between the world of whisky and wine. The attractive pale red rose colour is evidenced from red wine cask, fruity notes on the aroma with grapes, berry, pomegranate. Elegant smooth mouthfeel with grape fruit character. The finish is long, viscous umami, and well balanced with sweetness.

Mars Shinshu was founded in 1949 but didn’t start making whisky until their distillery was nestled high in the Japanese Alps in 1985. This is a limited release Mars Iwai Tradition blended whisky released in 2021 that has spent extra time maturing in Pedro Ximenez Sherry casks which give a delicious sweetness to the whisky. Pedro Ximenez is a Spanish white grape variety, and this sherry is well known for its intense sweetness as a dessert-style sherry. Showing lovely amber colour with sweet notes such as brown sugar, maple syrup on the nose. It has a smooth mouthfeel and rich texture with sweet honey burned sugar cane and sweet peat on the palate. A distinctive rich full body finishes with cacao and a hint of bitter chocolate. Complex and well-balanced whisky.

Mars Cosmo is aged in Sherry, Bourbon, and American white oak casks. Cosmo, is the name of a mountain in the Japan Central Alps, closed to the Mars Shinshu distillery. This is a limited bottling of Cosmo, which has been extra-seasoned in red wine casks. Shiny ruby red colour is extracted from red wine casks. On the nose, fruitiness and warm spiciness are present. It has a soft round mouth feel, and Umami from the red wine cask interact very well with Cosmo's ripe fruit character with vanilla and cinnamon flavours as a result of further maturation in red wine casks. A long finish with elegant tannins and black tea.

Floral and aromatic on the nose, fresh and soft texture with delicate sweetness, and an elegant crisp finish.The key botanicals apart from juniper berries for this gin (green tea, shiso and ginger) are grown locally in Kagoshima Prefecture in South Japan on the island of Kyushu. The original gin is blended with beautiful rose water which is made with organic and local Damask rose flower, which is considered the queen of roses.