It’s incredibly satisfying to see a whisky journey come full circle. From the soil in which the barley grows to the cask where the spirit matures and the final designs for its launch, every stage contributes something to the finished bottle.

Tsuchi, from Kiyokawa, marks a few important milestones. It’s the distillery's first Oloroso sherry matured whisky, the distillery's third ever release and it’s also the first privately-owned Kiyokawa cask to reach the bottling stage - bringing the first of many dekantā client-owned Kiyokawa casks full circle.

Located in Iiyama, Nagano, Kiyokawa Distillery has built its identity around a farm-to-bottle philosophy. Working alongside agricultural scientists, the distillery has developed its own unique strain of organic mountain barley, grown by local farmers in the fields that surround the distillery.

Connection to the land is central to the distillery's approach, and it is reflected in the name of this latest release. Tsuchi means earth or soil in Japanese. This release pays tribute to a whisky whose story begins beneath the ground where those first seedlings sprout.

Unlike a conventional distillery release, this whisky began with a cask purchased and owned by a dekantā client. Having matured at Kiyokawa, the cask reached bottling age and has now been brought to life as a finished expression. Through our collaboration with the distillery, we have worked on the creative direction, design and bottling of the whisky, transforming a client's cask ownership journey into the finished product.

We felt there was a fitting circularity to a release that represents both the very beginning and very end of the whisky making process.

Located in Iiyama, Nagano, Kiyokawa Distillery is built around a farm-to-bottle philosophy. Working alongside agricultural scientists, the distillery has developed its own unique strain of organic mountain barley, grown by local farmers in the fields that surround the distillery.

Connection to the land is central to the distillery's approach, and it is reflected in the name of this latest release. Tsuchi means earth or soil in Japanese. This release pays tribute to a whisky whose story begins beneath the ground where those first barley seedlings sprout.

There's more to the story though. Unlike a conventional distillery release, this whisky came from a cask purchased and owned by a private dekantā client. Having matured at Kiyokawa, the cask reached bottling age and has now been brought to life as a finished expression. Through our collaboration with the distillery, we have worked on the creative direction, design and bottling of the whisky, transforming a client's cask ownership journey into the finished product.

We felt there was a fitting circularity to a release that represents both the very beginning and very end of the whisky making process.

This is Kiyokawa's first release matured in an Oloroso sherry cask, introducing a new profile to the distillery's growing collection of expressions.

Oloroso is a rich, full-bodied style of sherry, matured in contact with oxygen to develop its distinctive nutty character and depth. When used for whisky maturation, these casks can impart layers of dried fruit, toasted nuts, dark chocolate and warming spice - all of which marry well with the robust Kiyokawa new make spirit.

As a single cask release, this is highly limited to just 290 units worldwide. The whisky has been bottled at a natural cask strength of 64% and without chill filtration, preserving it as it came from the cask with minimal intervention.

The visual identity of Tsuchi was developed around one of the most important moments in Kiyokawa's agricultural calendar, the harvest.

The bottle artwork depicts Kiyokawa Distillery surrounded by the rich seasonal colours of Iiyama at harvest time. It captures the moment when the earth reveals what it has yielded, and the barley that has grown throughout the year is finally gathered.

While the bottle shows the fields at the end of their cycle, for the bottle photography, we wanted to depict the whisky in the fields at the beginning.

Working with renowned food and beverage photographer Koji Hanabuchi, we developed a creative brief that would take the bottle back to the beginning of the agricultural cycle. Rather than photographing it against the golden colours of the harvest, we placed it among the freshly budding barley fields, as the new crop began to emerge.

There is a pleasing contrast between the two. The bottle depicts the distillery at the end of the growing season, while the photography captures the promise of the next one. Closing the loop, connecting the finished whisky with the land and the continuing cycle that makes all of it possible.

It reminds us that Tsuchi, the earth, is what constantly feeds the whiskies produced at Kiyokawa.