Mars Iwai Blue Label: The Japanese Whisky Named After Taketsuru's Mentor

Most people know the Japanese whisky story through one name: Masataka Taketsuru. Scotland, 1918, the notebook he brought home.

Almost nobody knows who sent him.

That was Kiichiro Iwai. This whisky is named after him.

Who Was Kiichiro Iwai?

Iwai was Taketsuru's senior at Osaka Technical College and a specialist in distillation. When Taketsuru was working at Settsu Shuzo, it was Iwai who arranged for him to go to Scotland and study whisky, making Taketsuru the first Japanese person to do it.

Taketsuru came back with a handwritten report that became the foundation of the entire industry.

Decades later, Hombo Shuzo brought Iwai on as an advisor. In 1949 they got their whisky license, and Iwai designed their distillery and pot stills using Taketsuru's report as the blueprint. The still he designed is still at the Mars Komagatake distillery today, more than fifty years on.

The man who made Japanese whisky possible finally got to make whisky himself, in his seventies. Mars named their core line after him.

What Is Iwai Blue Label?

A blended Japanese whisky from Mars Komagatake in Nagano, the distillery formerly known as Mars Shinshu, sitting at around 800 meters in the Japanese Alps.

The build is simple: 70% corn, 30% malted barley, aged two to five years in ex-bourbon barrels, bottled at 40%.

That corn-heavy mash bill is deliberate. It's why this one comes across soft and rounded instead of dry and malty, and why bourbon drinkers get it immediately.

Flavor Profile

Nose: Cinnamon, brûléed sugar

Palate: Red Delicious apple skin, English breakfast tea

Finish: Clean, with a pleasant tannin grip

How to Drink It

This is a highball whisky, and not as a compromise. The corn base keeps its sweetness through dilution, and the tannin stops soda water from washing it out. Tall glass, lots of ice, cold soda, barely stir.

Neat is good too. On the rocks it goes softer and rounder.

Pair It With

Karaage. The highball cuts the fry and resets your palate between pieces. Yakitori with tare and tebasaki wings work the same way.

Try It at Juraku

Available now at Izakaya Juraku, Lower East Side. Ask for the Iwai highball and we'll build it properly.