Ryujin Golden Dragon: A Whisky From a 16th-Century Sake Brewery

You will notice the bottle before you notice anything else.

It's molded in the shape of a golden dragon, covered in reliefs of figures from Japanese culture and mythology. It is not subtle, and it isn't trying to be.

Ryujin

Ryujin is the dragon deity of the sea in Japanese myth — one of the most important dragons in the tradition, a god of the ocean and a patron of Japan.

The brewery takes its name from the spring it was built on. Ryujin Shuzo is in Tatebayashi, Gunma, and its origins go back to the end of the 16th century. It is a sake house first, and a small and fairly private one.

The Whisky

Aged 12 months in mizunara, Japanese oak from Hokkaido.

Twelve months is short for maturation but not for a mizunara finish, and mizunara gives quickly once it starts. The wood is porous and aromatic, and a year is enough to pick up its signature without letting the tannin take over.

Taste: Honey, green apple, light oak

Finish: Smooth and refined

It's a gentler, more approachable whisky than the bottle suggests, the packaging is loud, the liquid isn't.

Why We Have It

Partly because it drinks well, and partly because of the bottle.

We're not going to pretend otherwise: a whisky shaped like a dragon is a good thing to put on a table. It's also from a sake brewery with four hundred years behind it, which is a more interesting fact than most novelty bottles can offer.

Sake houses branching into whisky is one of the defining patterns of the modern Japanese whisky scene, and this is one of the more literal expressions of it.

How to Drink It

Neat or on the rocks. It's soft enough for either, and light enough that a highball works well.

Pair It With

The honey and apple side goes with fried food and grilled skewers. Karaage, tebasaki, yakitori.

Try It at Juraku

Ryujin Golden Dragon is on the whisky list at Izakaya Juraku, Lower East Side, and available by the bottle if you want the dragon on your table.