Shishi-Iwa House Hosts A ¥1 Million Whisky Tour
Ghost-distillery single casks meet Mars, Hakushu, and Chichibu on a six-day February tour.
Karuizawa has not distilled whisky since 2000, and what remains is now more often traded at auction than sipped and enjoyed.
Next February, 12 guests will drink some of it a short drive from where it was made.
The six-day tour runs from 24 February to 1 March 2027 and is based at Shishi-Iwa House in Karuizawa, Nagano.
At its centre is a series of private tastings built around single casks from the closed distillery.
The distillery was demolished in 2016, so each bottle opened draws down a stock that cannot be replaced.
The oldest Karuizawa is a 1972 36-Year-Old from sherry cask #7290. A 1984 30-Year-Old, which the organisers single out for having spent its entire maturation in one ex-bourbon cask, offers the counterpoint.
For perspective, two 1960s Scotch whiskies, from The Macallan and Springbank, are also served, so guests can taste where the two traditions part ways.
The story of lineage is also told through one family.
Hanyu, the distillery founded by Ichiro Akuto’s grandfather, also stopped production in 2000, and a single cask from that final year is on the list.
Akuto went on to build Chichibu, which guests will visit.
At the centre of the tour are private tastings built around single casks from the closed distillery.
One Chichibu bottle, Single Cask #708 from 2010, matured in a hogshead that previously held Hanyu whisky, which makes it the most direct link between grandfather and grandson on the list.
The route also takes in Mars Komagatake and Suntory’s Hakushu, but the stop with the most resonance comes on day four, when the group visits the site in Miyota where Karuizawa once stood.
Lunch follows at Song at Gio Hills Winery, where 12 seats face the Japan Alps over wood-fire cooking, and another Karuizawa flight is poured.
The rest of the table keeps to a similar scale, down to an eight-seat kappo counter at Kappo Tachimori.
The price is ¥1,000,000 (about US$6,400) per person sharing, plus ¥200,000 for single occupancy. The organisers say this covers all meals, activities, transport, and accommodation, though the itinerary is still marked as indicative.
For details, visit Shishi-Iwa House.