This time, I will introduce some delicious whiskeys that I bought or drank at bars in October 2025.
1st bottle: Shinanoya Dalmore 1991 30 years refill barrel
This is the 95th anniversary Dalmore released by Shinanoya.
This is a release from Hunter Rain's top series Old & Rare.
Dalmore is a distillery with few bottler releases in the first place.
Generally speaking, Dalmore is sherry, but what is unusual is that Dalmore is made from bourbon barrels.
I think it will be quite rare if it matures even longer.
So this is my first time drinking Dalmore from a long-aged bourbon barrel.
Another unusual point is that it has a solid 58.7% alcohol content.
You can see the level of enthusiasm from these various places.
As for the taste, I felt a solid fruit flavor like peach and banana, powderiness, and nuances of tea leaves.
I've had Dalmore from medium- or slightly long-aged bourbon barrels around 15 to 20 years old several times, and I think it has a similar strain of fruit and tea leaves.
And I think the 30 years of aging makes it even more fruity.
It's a bottle that I would be very hesitant to buy, but it's a good bottle so you won't regret buying it, and at least it's one that I want you to drink.
2nd bottle: The Whiskey Exchange Scapa 2003 19 years 1st Fill American Oak Barrel
Scapa is exclusive to The Whiskey Exchange, a site that is synonymous with personal imports.
Each bottle is sold for 50,000 yen in Japan.
It's common for Scapa to do something like this, so it's not particularly expensive. .
In October 2025, a sale was suddenly held on The Whiskey Exchange, and you can now purchase it for around 25,000 yen including shipping and other expenses. The
sale ended in mid-November 2025, so I think you can buy it cheaper on Yahoo Auctions now.
So I was curious.
I was hoping to be able to drink it somewhere during the sale, but I never expected to find it so soon. .
The taste is apple and citrus, with a creaminess in the second half.
I wouldn't buy it if it was 50,000 yen per bottle, but if it was 25,000 yen, I think it would be a buy.
So, I personally imported it for the first time in a while.
I think it will arrive in November, so I'll be able to introduce it separately in the introduction of the whiskey I purchased once it arrives.
If you see it somewhere, give it a try.
Impressions
October 2025 was a modest new release, and since I started a diet, I simply didn't go out for drinks as often, so the number of introductions was the lowest ever. .
I participated in "Japanese Craft Whiskey Festa 2025" and drank a lot of Japanese whiskey.
The event centered on Shinko Distillery, one of Shinko Distilleries among Japanese whiskies.
So, to be honest, it's not at the level that I would like to introduce here because it was a whiskey that was just over 3 years old, and it was mainly New Pot and New Born that couldn't even be called whiskey yet.
I thought it was delicious, but I feel like I'm not introducing it here, but rather looking forward to it in the future.
I would like to see these things reach a level where I can introduce them in a few years.
If things go as usual, I think releases will be modest until mid-November.
I think we will continue to see small releases until then, but after that I think we will continue to see big releases during the year-end sales season.
I'll try to catch up as much as possible by going to bars and attending events and drinking.
