Traveling Lito｜Sakurao’s First Single Cask for a Bar, 171 Bottles
2026.8.15
To mark twenty years of Bar Little Happiness, we’ve bottled a single cask from Sakurao Distillery.
The first single cask Sakurao has ever bottled for a bar.
Years of asking, turned down again and again, and still unable to let it go.
This is the bottle that finally came of it.
What I chose was a 1st fill bourbon barrel, 100% Japanese malt.
The most ordinary cask in the world.
And the first time I put my nose in it, I’d already decided.
A beautiful single cask: green apple and honey.
On the label is Lito, the small spirit who watches over this bar.
We’ve named it “Traveling Lito,” and there are only 171 bottles.
I’ve written about choosing the cask, and about how Lito came to be, in separate columns.
Do have a read if you’d like.
・At last: Sakurao Distillery’s first bottling for a bar
https://little-happiness.jp/columns/bar-little-happiness20th/
・The Sakurao 20th anniversary bottle, and the story of Lito
https://little-happiness.jp/columns/sakurao-20th-lito-story/
This bottle isn’t sold to the public. It goes only to whisky bars across Japan.
Every month, this bar is held up by people all over the country, and I don’t take that lightly.
・Bartenders who have made the trip to come in.
・Bartenders who found us on social media and stayed.
・And bartenders who have never been here themselves, but tell their guests: if you’re going to Hiroshima, go to Little Happiness.
Some I’ve met. Some I haven’t.
A great many bartenders keep this bar in mind, and that’s what holds it up.
And now, if this Sakurao Lito could stand on your counters too… 🥃
Picturing that makes me happier than I can say.
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If you’d like to stock it
I’m reaching out to bars one at a time, wherever there’s some connection between us.
If any part of this interests you, please do get in touch.
“Just want to know the price.” “Mildly curious.”
That’s more than enough reason to write.
Please send me a DM on Instagram.
May “Traveling Lito” travel out to your bars… ❣️
