Shirakawa 1958, a Japanese single malt whisky priced at £2,300 a dram, has been selected for the menu at Gordon Ramsay’s Lucky Cat restaurant at 22 Bishopsgate in London. The rare expression, recovered by Highland Scotch distillery Tomatin, is the most premium spirit offered at the Asian-inspired dining venue, which opened last year.
The whisky also features in Being Gordon Ramsay, a six-part Netflix documentary series following the chef as he created Lucky Cat. During an episode about the restaurant, Shirakawa 1958 appears in a shot of the bar as the construction team discusses concerns about shelving at the busy site.
Shirakawa 1958 is the only official single malt ever released from Japan’s lost Shirakawa Distillery and the earliest known single vintage Japanese whisky ever bottled. The distillery was built in 1939 in the Fukushima Prefecture, approximately 200km north of Tokyo, and crafted malt whisky from 1951 to 1969.
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READ THE STORYMost of its output was used in owner Takara Shuzo’s flagship King blended whisky brand. The distillery was demolished in 2003.
More than a decade later, Tomatin Distillery’s managing director Stephen Bremner traced the existence of surviving Shirakawa stock to Takara Shuzo’s Kurokabegura distillery in 2019. The spirit had been distilled in 1958, aged in a cask, then transferred to ceramic jars before being moved into stainless steel tanks at a Takara Shuzo factory in Kyushu, where it lay untouched until Bremner’s discovery.
“When I discovered that the last remaining stock was distilled in 1958, I was astounded,” Bremner said. “It was a genuine ‘wow’ moment as I realized very quickly that what we were dealing with was extremely rare.”
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He added: “Crafted in the early days of malt production in Japan, it has a distinctive flavor profile, with aromas of exotic incense giving way to grass and fruits before a hint of mint on the finish. It is truly extraordinary and conveys the evolving character of Japanese whisky, which is now acclaimed worldwide.”
Takara Shuzo purchased Tomatin Distillery in 1986, but Bremner said it was only in recent years that he became fascinated by Shirakawa’s history and embarked on tracing the lost stock.
“We are incredibly honored that Gordon Ramsay has selected Shirakawa 1958 as the pinnacle of his whisky menu at Lucky Cat,” Bremner said. “Diners who try it will be transported back to a pioneering era of Japanese whisky as they enjoy one of the rarest drams in the world.”
The expression, bottled at 49% ABV by Takara Shuzo Co Ltd in Japan, was likely crafted using predominantly Japanese malted barley and Mizunara oak casks. Just 1,500 bottles were released in 2022 at an RRP of £25,000 per 70cl bottle and distributed worldwide by Tomatin Distillery.
