Mars Shinshu – Iwai 45 (75cl, 45%)

Mars Shinshu Iwai 45 is a Japanese blended whisky from Mars Shinshu, which at over 2,600 feet in the Nagano Alps is Japan's highest whisky distillery. The 45 is the bottling strength, 45% ABV, higher than the standard Iwai Tradition. It comes in a 75cl bottle. The name honours Kiichiro Iwai, the pre-war whisky maker who mentored the Mars project. The Hombo family, shochu distillers for more than a century, added whisky in 1949 with his help, and moved the distillery in 1984 from Kagoshima to Miyada village in southern Nagano Prefecture.