Hatozaki. One of the new entrants into the Japanese whisky scene, this new brand has shown up all over my local area. From big name liquor stores to small time grocery marts, it seems that Hatozaki’s distribution network is massive. But if you’ve never heard of them, I wouldn’t blame you. It’s easy to overlook the relatively non-descript bottle: with the hallmark Japanese writing and flowy design that telegraphs that this is Japanese whisky we are talking about. Whiskies from Japan have become hallowed, difficult to find, and extraordinarily expensive subgenre of the whisky world that many Americans have been clamoring to try.
But if you try to do a bit of research on Hatozaki you won’t find much. As with many of these brands from Japan, much of their whisky is sourced and not much information is made publicly available. But as standards have begun to tighten as to what can be called “Japanese whisky” I wonder how many of these brands will survive. So does this 40% ABV, extremely lightly colored (almost alarmingly so), and widely available whisky represent a low-risk way to get into the Japanese whisky scene? Well let’s dive in and find out.