A newcomer to the Tokyo Whisky Bar scene, Aloha Whisky Bar in Ikebukuro opened it’s doors in September 2019.
The bar is owned and operated by the affable Mr David Tsujimoto, a native of Hawaii of Japanese decent. David has lived in Tokyo for the last 6 years and in that time has collected an extremely impressive range of whiskies. Around 600 bottlings in total and if that is not enough to wet your appetite, about 250 of these are Japanese Whiskies. That number of Japanese Whiskies propels Aloha Whisky Bar straight into the Major Leagues!
The majority of the other whiskies on offer are Scottish or Bourbons but there is also whisky from Canada, Ireland, Taiwan, Hawaii, Australia, Switzerland and China.
Other alcoholic beverages include Beer, Red and White Wine, Gin, and Cognac. David also has a passion for rums so if your interested in rums, ask David for a recommedation of one of the rums at the bar. We did and it was a suberb fruit bomb!
Starting prices for half shots of no age statement Japanese Single Malt Whiskies is Y500 and Single Cask Japanese Whiskies from the likes of Chichibu Y1500.
If you are new to whisky David offers a number of tasting flights from both Scotland and Japan. A tasting flight was the starting point for my own Japanese Whisky odyssey over 10 years ago.
As David is always on the lookout for new whisky expressions, you would be certain of an exciting experience even after multiple visits to Aloha Whisky Bar.
Aloha Whisky Bar is also a non smoking venue, a boon for anyone who actually wants to nose and taste whisky not just cigarette smoke all night. The bar seats around 10-12.
The bar is currently open every day except Tuesdays from 6PM-11:30PM. I always recommend before going to any bar that you check out their Facebook page for any updates to opening hours. Directions to the bar if arriving by train are pretty straight forward. Exit C3 of the Fukutoshin(F) area of Ikebukuro Station. If you can’t find C3 ask any station staff. When you exit C3 at street level the bar is directly across the road a few meters to the left. It is on level 3 accessed by a small elevator. Picture below includes the sign for Aloha Whisky Bar.
I cannot recommend Aloha Whisky Bar highly enough and it will be one of my regulars whenever I am in Tokyo.
Nose: Lots of honey, toffee and vanilla notes. Sugared apple pie crust, some wood spice, rye spice, oranges, buttered popcorn, white pepper, cinnamon, overripe pineapple. I’d say fairly faithful to the Kirin House style.
After our tour of Chichibu Distillery had completed I asked if our tour guide Soma could recommend a good whisky bar in Chichibu town. He recommended Bar Te – Airigh and what an awesome recommendation it was. Now Soma called the bar Bar Cherry, as did Chichibu Brand Ambassador Yumi. I tried a google search that would translate Bar Te – Airigh to Bar Cherry but I could not find one.
Nose: Apricots, dried pears, barley, lemon sherbet, vanilla, wood spice, ash.
Nose: Fresh cut timber, apricot, straw, pineapple, mustard, prune juice, passion fruit.
Nose: Peated and while by no means to Ardbeg or Laphroaig level peating, this would be classed as heavily peated by most Japanese whisky distilleries. You can pick up the peated note from 2 feet away. Diesel, creosote, barley, candy apple, dried pears, pomegranate, shoe polish, toffee.
Kicking things off early this year. A big thanks to all who posted reports over the last coupe of years especially the regulars. Great work and an invaluable source of reference if the 10’s of thousands of views these posts have received is anything to go by.
Nose: Creme caramel, stewed apple with cinnamon, dried bananas, nutmeg, smooth creamy oak, spearmint, icing sugar and a coastal element like shellfish. With water there is a bourbony kick of orange, licorice and rye spice.
Nose: Light and smooth. Apple, butter, creamed corn, dried pears, honey, cinnamon.
I’ve just begun reading the March issue of Whisky Magazine and in this edition there is a quite significant post in regards to Karuizawa. The Whisky Magazine Index collates the prices of live auction sites over a 12 month period and has been running since 2007. Since inception, The Macallan has taken top spot for whisky prices each year. Well each year up until 2015. This was the year that a Japanese Whisky Distillery took over the number 1 position and unsurprisingly it was Karuizwa. To save a lengthy explanation in this post as to how the index works you can check out the following