Sakurao Spanish Oak｜Stillman’s Selection, Malt Bars Only
2026.8.15
Championing a distillery from my own city
A new release from Sakurao, here in Hiroshima, and I’d been waiting for it.
I could hardly wait for it to arrive. And then it floored me.
The distillery has been running seven years.
Seven, and it can already produce maturation with this much body to it.
I should say up front that I’m writing as a local, and as someone firmly in their corner.
What kind of place Sakurao is
Sakurao Distillery began operating in 2017, a Japanese whisky distillery out of Hiroshima.
The parent company, Chugoku Jozo — now SAKURAO — was founded in 1918. Sake, shochu, liqueurs: decades of accumulated knowledge across all of it, and Sakurao is what that knowledge came to.
It’s right by JR Hatsukaichi Station, on the way from the city to Miyajima, so it’s easy to fold into a day of sightseeing.
SAKURAO DISTILLERY across the front of the building, and the sea directly in front of it.
In Scotland that might be an everyday view. Seeing it in Hiroshima does something to a whisky drinker’s chest.
The tour includes areas where no photography or filming is allowed, where you take in the smell of the casks and the air of the place directly.
There’s also an odd little photo spot where you can pose as though you’re playing Pop-Up Pirate — they haven’t forgotten to have fun with it.
What’s in the new release
Here it is:
Single Malt Japanese Whisky SAKURAO SPANISH OAK STILLMAN’S SELECTION.
- Spanish oak matured spirit, selected by the stillman who runs the distillation
- Nose: smoke, with date and bitter chocolate behind it
- Palate: the sweetness of dates and strawberry, a light salinity
- Finish: sweetness and peat, carrying long
- Maturation: spirit chosen from the hottest part of the Sakurao warehouse, where the swing between temperatures is widest
Seven years in, and it’s finished to this degree.
A bottle that undoes whatever you thought a young distillery could do.
Malt bars only
What makes it particular, more than anything, is that it goes to malt bars and nowhere else.
You won’t find it in liquor shops or online, and the places you can drink it are limited.
If you want it, you have to go somewhere to get it — and that scarcity is part of what makes the bottle what it is.
And here at Bar Little Happiness
You can have it here, of course.
A particular bottle from a distillery in my own city, poured across this counter.
I’d be glad if you could feel the Seto Inland Sea opening up inside the glass.
Every time I visit Sakurao, they have moved forward. Without fail.
What will they show me next time? I hope you’ll enjoy that question alongside the finish of this glass.
Whisky tastes better when you know the heart behind it.
Every encounter is meant to be. Welcome to the world of Rum & Whisky.
📍 Bar Little Happiness
5-14-1F Nagarekawa-cho, Naka-ku, Hiroshima
Mon–Sat: 19:00–24:30 / Sun: until 24:00
(Last entry approx. 1 hour before closing)
Open almost every day of the year
Reservations and enquiries via our official LINE 🥃
Latest updates on Instagram Stories ⭐️
🔗 Online shop: https://shop.little-happiness.jp
【About the author】
Mika Tanimoto — President, Little.m Inc. / owner-bartender
Owner of Bar Little Happiness, a rum and whisky bar in Hiroshima now in its twentieth year.
Since opening in 2006, she has worked as a specialist in passing on what moves her about whisky and rum.
The back bar holds over 1,000 bottles, from rare and hard-to-find releases to Sakurao, made here in Hiroshima.
• More than one bar: alongside the main bar, she runs a casual sister venue, the Rum & Whisky Highball Bar.
• Online: an online shop sending selected bottles across Japan in small measures.
• Writing: her column, Notes on Whisky and Rum.
・The founding story:At 22, working poor, and the light I found.
