Launched this year, theYamazakura Asaka 2024 Dragon Label Japanese single cask whisky. Itwas distilled at the Asaka distillery in 2017 and bottled at 50% strength in 2024, with every bottle bearing a Dragon label. The Japanese beverage company Sasanokawa Shuzo has been producing sake and shochu since 1765. Among its brands, Yamazakura is a relatively new addition. Tetsuzo Yamaguchi, the eighth company head, didn't decide to enter the whisky production industry until 1946, nearly 200 years later. Basically, Yamazakura was meant to be Sasanokawa Shuzo's premium brand, intended to balance out the far more popular whiskies that were made specifically for mixing. The Asaka Distillery is situated in Koriyama, Fukushima Prefecture. Asaka the First, the first-ever single malt whisky, was released in December 2019. Asaka Distillery is not a newly created company. The business that owns it is Sasanokawa Shuzo Co. Ltd Japan established in 1765, obtained a license to manufacture whisky in 1946. We have been making it ever then, being the Tohoku region's oldestwhisky distillery. Since ancient times, people in Japan have used kanji to tell the time and direction. The term "Japanese twelve zodiac signs" refers to the twelve animal signs that are used as a symbol for each year, and one of the animal signs is the dragon. As each zodiac rotates once every twelve years, the goal is to be able to continue aging the whisky.