Bainbridge Organic Distillers has announced the launch of Bainbridge Yama Mizunara Cask Single Grain Whiskey, the first-ever non-Japanese whiskey to be aged exclusively in hand-crafted barrels made from rare Mizunara oak harvested from the Japanese island of Hokkaido.
Set for limited global release this spring, Bainbridge Yama Mizunara Cask Whiskey takes its inspiration from the island village of Yama, founded on Bainbridge by Japanese immigrants in the 1880s.
Bainbridge Organic Distillers’ Mizunara casks begin their life as standing oak timber on the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido. These trees, some more than 200 years old, are hand selected based on the vitality of the tree and the quality of the wood. Only a small number of trees are ever selected for cutting and in some years no trees are taken.
More than 4,000 miles away, the whiskey that will become Yama begins its journey from grain to glass in the fertile fields of Washington state’s Skagit Valley where organic Full Pint and Alba barley is grown on a small third-generation family farm near the saltwater confluence of the Skagit River and the Puget Sound. After harvest the barley is trucked 77 miles to Bainbridge Organic Distillers’ facility, where the un-malted grain is milled and mashed.
Fermentation takes place in one of the distillery’s four 550-gallon stainless steel fermentation vessels.
“Obtaining stocks of this rare and sought-after wood, and bringing this special whiskey to fruition, has taken more than six years and the efforts of several people both here in America and in Japan”, said distillery owner and master distiller Keith Barnes.
“It has been an effort fueled by friendship, passion, determination and an unbelievable amount of hard work by all those involved. But once we stood back to look at the accomplishment, and taste the whiskey, it’s been worth every effort we’ve made,” he said.
Barnes describes the liquor as having, “bright aromatics of mango, vanilla, toasted sandalwood, tropical flowers, marzipan and star anise. Flavors open on nutmeg and clove, pear and toasty wood notes, settling out to honeyed vanilla and toasted marshmallow. Finish is warm and lingering with fading spice and a pleasant oak grip.”
Today, the Yama village site is reportedly the last undisturbed Issei (First Generation Japanese immigrant) village site in the United States not destroyed by development. Bainbridge Yama Mizunara Cask Whiskey was first envisioned by Barnes as a way to draw attention to the unique history of the island and also to raise money to support the efforts of the community to preserve and present Yama’s history to today’s generation of Bainbridge Island residents and visitors.
Profits from the sale of Bainbridge Yama Mizunara Cask Single Grain Whiskey will support the ongoing efforts to preserve the unique Yama history for the study and enrichment of generations to come.
“Living on Bainbridge Island we have always known that this place shares a special connection with Japan and the Japanese that first came to Bainbridge Island in the 1880s,” Barnes said. “The small Yama village was a thriving place back then, complete with a traditional Japanese teahouse, Japanese baths, Buddhist temple, a hotel and shops. Tamegoro Takayoshi’s general store in Yama was said to have the best ice cream on the island.”
The closure of Port Blakely Mill in 1922, an employer for many of the men living in Yama, caused village residents to relocate to different parts of the island where they took up farming or opened other small businesses. Over the decades the Yama village site was slowly reclaimed by nature.
“When I heard that efforts were being organized to preserve the Yama site, its artifacts and history, I wanted to take part,” Barnes added. “Making a very special whiskey using rare Japanese Mizunara oak that follows the same path to Bainbridge Island from Japan made by those first Japanese immigrants seemed fitting.”
Bainbridge Organic Distillers is located at 9727 Coppertop Loop NE, Suite 101. Visit www.bainbridgedistillers.com for more information.
