Everybody Loves Mizunara

NOTORIOUSLY LEAKY and wildly expensive Japanese Mizunara oak barrels have become an object of obsession among makers of Scotch whisky, Irish whiskey and bourbon.

Distillers value the finicky casks for the unmistakable yet delicate flavors they impart-a sandalwood aroma is commonly detected, as are floral and herbal notes. Whiskies aged in them fetch impressive prices, piggybacking on the global success of Japanese whiskies overall: The Distilled Spirits Council of the United States reports that U.S. imports of whiskey from Japan rose nearly 20-fold over the past decade, reaching a value of more than $80 million in 2023.

Truth be told, even the Japanese aren't using all that much Mizunara.

"Only something like one in 10 barrels of Japanese whisky is aged in it," said Michael Vacheresse, co-owner and beverage director of Travel Bar Brooklyn, which stocks some 480 different whiskeys. Mizunara barrels can run between $4000 and $8000 apiece, he added: The trees that yield the wood, native to Japan's northern Hokkaido prefecture, take 200 years to mature and must be felled in the legally sanctioned way.

Ciarán "Rowdy" Rooney, Master Distiller and blender at Glendalough Distillery in Ireland's County Wicklow, was the first distiller in Ireland to use Mizunara. "Only the most skilled coopers can make the barrels," he said.

"The Mizunara grain isn't straight, so the logs need to be split precisely along the grain lines rather than straight sawn." Today, Glendalough Single Malt Mizunara Cask Finish spends a minimum of one year in the casks before being bottled.

Heather Greene, a whiskey expert, Master Blender and CEO of Milam & Greene Whiskey in Texas, acknowledged Mizunara's rising popularityand wondered whether it's always applied appropriately. "If you're going to use an expensive wood, you want to curate and articulate that in your whiskey," she said. Irish whiskey and Scotch can be nuanced enough to accommodate Mizunara's subtle flavors, Greene allowed, but she questioned whether that subtlety would be lost amid the bold spice and vanilla flavors of a bourbon-style whiskey.

Plenty of distillers would disagree.

Tripp Stimson, chief whiskey scientist at Barrell Craft Spirits in Jeffersontown, Ky., likes to blend bourbon aged in the Japanese oak with some aged in American- and French-oak barrels. "It's about shining a light on all the different flavors and finding them all in one place," he said.

The payoff can be a long time coming. Isaac Winter, director of distilling for Constellation Brands, recently purchased 24 Mizunara casks for Constellation-owned High West Distillery outside Park City, Utah, and filled them with 2016 pot-still rye whiskey. "I've heard that all the interesting things happen after three years in barrel," he said.

In distilling, time is money, and the time some of these spirits spend in Mizunara oak does come at a premium. Louisville, Ky-based bourbon distillery Rabbit Hole released its 15year-old Founder's Collection LimitedRelease Mizunara this spring with a price tag of $1500. In October, Widow Jane Distillery in Brooklyn bottled its Black Opal, an earthy, nicely bitter 20year-old bourbon finished in Mizunara casks that goes for $500.

For those new to Mizunara or simply not in a position to spend that much, the three bottles above provide a delicious and decidedly more accessible entry point.