Saburomaru’s Latest, Ⅷ STRENGTH, Has Arrived — The Tarot’s “Strength” and a New Face of Peat
2026.10.05
In short: Saburomaru Ⅷ STRENGTH is the 9th tarot-label release from Saburomaru Distillery in Toyama — Japan’s only distillery that uses only peated malt. Distilled in 2022 in the ZEMON still, aged 4 years, from super heavily Islay-peated malt at 80PPM (about 1.5× Ardbeg), it contrasts with the Highland-peated Ⅶ THE CHARIOT. By Mika Tanimoto, Bar Little Happiness, Hiroshima.
Saburomaru’s latest! Single Malt Saburomaru Ⅷ STRENGTH has arrived 🥃
The newest release from Saburomaru Distillery in Toyama — a distillery I am a huge fan of.
In January 2026 I visited the distillery and learned about President Takahiko Inagaki’s philosophy, ZEMON, Barrel Roll 2 and their investment in the future.
I am such a fan that I even travelled to Yamanashi just for a seminar by their chief blender —
my love for Saburomaru keeps accelerating!
The tarot’s “Strength” — a symbol of inner power
The label of Saburomaru Ⅷ STRENGTH is based on a tarot card.
A tarot deck consists of 22 Major Arcana and 56 Minor Arcana cards. Ⅷ STRENGTH uses the 9th of the 22 Major Arcana, “Strength” — making it the 9th release in the series.
The beautiful label designs throughout the series are by an artist from Toyama.
And the keywords Saburomaru officially attaches to this card are —
• Embrace • Sincerity • Control • Perseverance
The “Strength” card shows a woman in white gently taming a fierce lion — not by force, but with kindness.
Not holding it down with force, but embracing it, facing it sincerely, controlling from within and persevering —
perhaps that is the message held in the Ⅷ STRENGTH bottle.
The series began in 2020 with “Saburomaru 0 THE FOOL.”
The Major Arcana begins with “0 = The Fool.”
For its first release after renovation, Saburomaru Distillery chose “THE FOOL,” symbolising “a fresh start from zero.”
0: THE FOOL
Ⅰ: THE MAGICIAN
Ⅱ: THE HIGH PRIESTESS
Ⅲ: THE EMPRESS
Ⅳ: THE EMPEROR
Ⅴ: THE HIEROPHANT
Ⅵ: THE LOVERS
Ⅶ: THE CHARIOT
Ⅷ: STRENGTH ← we are here
Putting the Major Arcana into bottles and releasing them one by one —
that alone tells you how deep the world of this series is.
(By the way, the labels are already finished right to the end — if you visit the distillery, they may share the secret (in Japanese) with you ❣️)
Where “Strength” meets Islay peat
The biggest feature of Saburomaru Ⅷ STRENGTH is —
🥃 Super heavily Islay-peated malt, 80PPM
If you drink a lot of whisky, that phenol level of 80PPM will ring a bell.
Ardbeg, the byword for smoky whisky, has a phenol level of about 55PPM.
In other words, Saburomaru Ⅷ STRENGTH has —
🥃 about 1.5 times Ardbeg’s peat level
An extremely intense number.
And here is a fact I want to share once again.
Saburomaru Distillery is —
the only distillery in Japan that makes its whisky entirely from peated malt —
that is what it is.
The number of craft whisky distilleries in Japan keeps growing every year.
Most of them focus on unpeated or lightly peated spirit, making peated batches depending on the season or series.
But Saburomaru Distillery is different.
Since production began in 1952, it has consistently made its whisky only from peated malt.
Its theme is —
The Ultimate Peat
The only distillery in Japan that keeps walking this one path.
And that distillery has put 80PPM — 1.5 times Ardbeg’s peat level — into its latest release.
Perhaps you can imagine, just a little, how special that is.
“The Chariot” and “Strength” — the many faces of peat Saburomaru paints
Whisky fans may notice something here.
The previous release, “Ⅶ THE CHARIOT,” was also 80PPM.
So both Ⅷ STRENGTH and Ⅶ CHARIOT are
super heavily peated, with the same “80PPM phenol level.”
However —
• Ⅶ CHARIOT uses Highland peated malt
• Ⅷ STRENGTH uses Islay peated malt
The origin is different.
And this is not just a matter of “different origin.”
When you line up the messages on the labels, you can see that Saburomaru is painting completely contrasting worlds within the same fierce intensity of 80PPM.
Ⅶ CHARIOT — Highland peat, 80PPM
“A solitary soul charging across the wilderness. The rumble of wheels scorching the air.”
“Fierce smoke that evokes dry earth.”
“The Chariot,” the 8th card of the tarot’s Major Arcana.
The keywords Saburomaru officially gives it are —
• Will
• Charge
• Independence
• Challenge
Ⅷ STRENGTH — Islay peat, 80PPM
“Embraced by the mother sea, our souls drift among the waves.”
“A soft taste that wraps around powerful smokiness.”
“Strength,” the 9th card of the tarot’s Major Arcana.
The keywords Saburomaru officially gives it are
• Embrace • Sincerity • Control • Perseverance
“Strength” has many faces
“Will, charge, independence, challenge” and “embrace, sincerity, control, perseverance.”
“The wilderness” and “the mother sea.”
“The rumble of wheels” and “souls among the waves.”
Painting such contrasting worlds within the same fierce intensity of 80PPM.
Lining up the official keywords, this is how it feels to me —
• In Ⅶ, the power found at the end of movement.
• In Ⅷ, the power that matures within.
This is only my personal interpretation, but —
I think this is the deeper meaning of Saburomaru’s philosophy, “The Ultimate Peat” 🥃
Mastering peat does not mean simply chasing intense smokiness.
It means drawing out the geographical and cultural character of peat within the whisky.
Even at the same 80PPM, Highland and Islay show completely different landscapes.
Proving, inside the bottle, that “strength” has many faces —
Saburomaru painted the power of “The Chariot” in Ⅶ,
and the world of “Strength” in Ⅷ 🥃
And Saburomaru’s challenge won’t stop here.
It has been 10 years since the distillery started up again after the major renovation that began in 2016.
Ever innovating, Saburomaru will surely keep showing us new expressions of peat.
What “face of peat” will they show us in the next release?
I want to keep following them with heartfelt anticipation 🥃
How Islay peat reached Toyama
The Ⅷ STRENGTH label carries one message that stays with you.
“Islay peat is becoming harder to obtain every year; this is the fruit of persistent negotiation and a relationship of trust built on sincerity.”
These are the words Saburomaru added to the release of Ⅷ STRENGTH.
Islay is the holy land of peat, loved by whisky lovers around the world.
But its extraction is subject to strict environmental regulations, and distilleries everywhere struggle to secure it.
Even so, Saburomaru Distillery in Toyama secured Islay malt.
What made it possible was “persistent negotiation” and “a relationship of trust built on sincerity.”
Now, remember the keywords of the tarot’s “Strength” once more.
• Embrace • Sincerity • Control • Perseverance
The official keywords “sincerity” and “perseverance” overlap beautifully with the true story behind the bottle.
The world of the tarot and the story of real whisky-making connect so beautifully.
It is a moment that makes me feel the depth of the Saburomaru series all over again.
January 2026: the day I visited Saburomaru Distillery
In January 2026, I visited Saburomaru Distillery in Tonami, Toyama.
Although I had been carrying the Saburomaru series, I had never visited the distillery itself.
Once I visited —
I became a huge fan, and it became my most-loved distillery!
• President Inagaki’s drive and love of whisky
• The story of developing ZEMON
• The “amber puzzle” in the blender’s room
• Building a whisky like kumiko, Toyama’s traditional woodwork
• An outlook that looks 100 years ahead
I wrote about the visit in detail in five earlier columns, so please read them 🥃
▶︎ My visit to Saburomaru Distillery, Parts 1–5
There are also articles I wrote about earlier releases, before I had visited the distillery.
▶︎ Saburomaru CHARIOT — a revival from the brink of closure (in Japanese)
▶︎ Lovers where two peats meet — Saburomaru Ⅵ THE LOVERS (in Japanese)
Saburomaru Ⅷ STRENGTH: specs
Product: Single Malt Saburomaru Ⅷ STRENGTH (standard edition)
Distilled: 2022
Bottled: 2026
Aged: 4 years
Malt: super heavily Islay-peated, 80PPM
Official tasting notes
Nose: Smoke like smouldering embers, macadamia nuts, wax, a touch of grapefruit pith, rich vanilla, bekko-ame (amber sugar candy), honest malt.
Palate: Smooth and juicy. Sweetness like vanilla and bekko-ame, smoke that is present yet soft, and a slight bitterness like grapefruit pith.
Overall: A smooth-drinking whisky where gentle smokiness and a hint of grapefruit-like character shine.
You can try it at Little Happiness 🥃
Epilogue | A 100-year baton
Another phrase Saburomaru Distillery holds up is “Rooted in the region, standing in the world.”
Staying rooted in the land of Toyama while making whisky that can hold its own in the world —
the journey of Saburomaru Distillery’s revival, since 2016.
And in August 2025, Saburomaru Distillery was registered as a national Registered Tangible Cultural Property.
Even so, Saburomaru won’t stop.
Under the philosophy of “The Ultimate Peat,” it will surely keep releasing new expressions.
The latest release from that distillery, Ⅷ STRENGTH — please try it at Bar Little Happiness in Nagarekawa, Hiroshima 💛
“Both whisky and rum taste even better when you touch the feelings of the people who make them.”
Every encounter is meant to be.
Welcome to the world of Rum&Whisky 🥃
🔗 Related columns
[My visit to Saburomaru Distillery]
Five reports from my visit to Saburomaru Distillery in January 2026.
▶︎ My visit to Saburomaru Distillery, Parts 1–5
[The story of the previous release, Ⅶ THE CHARIOT]
The story of a “charging chariot,” painted with Highland peat at 80PPM.
▶︎ Saburomaru CHARIOT — a revival from the brink of closure (in Japanese)
[About the author]
Mika Tanimoto
CEO, Little.m Inc. / Owner-bartender
Since 2006, I have run Bar Little Happiness, a whisky and rum bar in Nagarekawa, Hiroshima. I visit distilleries in Japan and around the world and write about the people who make the spirits. Recipient of the Hiroshima City Excellent Skilled Worker Award.
“Whisky and rum taste even better when you know the hearts of the people who make them.”
[Visit the bar] 📍 Bar Little Happiness
Rolling Nagarekawa 1F, 5-14 Nagarekawa-cho, Naka-ku, Hiroshima
Mon–Sat 7:00 pm – 12:30 am / Sun 7:00 pm – 12:00 am (closed when I travel to visit distilleries)
No cover charge, no reservation needed
