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highballs – SoraNews24 —Japan News— https://soranews24.com Bringing you yesterday's news from Japan and Asia, today. Thu, 26 Jun 2025 03:00:59 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.1.4 https://soranews24.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2020/05/en_rocket_1024.png?w=32 highballs – SoraNews24 —Japan News— https://soranews24.com 32 32 176746664 Canned Japanese whisky highball has a sophisticated history https://soranews24.com/2025/06/26/canned-japanese-whisky-highball-has-a-sophisticated-history/ https://soranews24.com/2025/06/26/canned-japanese-whisky-highball-has-a-sophisticated-history/#comments Thu, 26 Jun 2025 03:00:49 +0000 https://soranews24.com/?p=705788

Unraveling the mystery of the canned highball “Azabu”.

During a recent visit to a liquor store in Japan we spied something unusual on the shelf — a canned whisky highball called “Azabu”. This instantly sparked a memory, as we recalled seeing a bottled version of “Azabu” somewhere before, but we’d never seen it in a can so we picked it up for a closer look.

While the name immediately conjures up images of Azabu in Tokyo, a high-class area that’s home to embassies, international schools, and Sailor Moon, we found something rather unusual when we looked at the back of the can — it was made by Aichi-based Cheerio Chubu and distributed by Osaka-based company With One, so it didn’t seem to have any Tokyo connection at all.

Still, the Azabu name lent a sophisticated, high-class air to the highball, and the label echoed this sentiment with the words, “A masterpiece in pursuit of the ultimate highball”. However, the label also reads, “A blend of Scotch whisky and carefully selected whiskies from around the world, blended with spring water from Mt Fuji”, so it’s not truly a pure Japanese whisky.

This was a confusing mash of facts to comprehend, so we decided to put the highball to the test, picking up a couple of cans for 396 yen (US$2.73) each and taking them home for a taste. Cracking open a can, we were met by a satisfying “psshh” as the air was released, sending a faint smoky aroma wafting up to the nostrils. Pouring the drink into a glass, we saw it had a yellowish hue typical of a highball.

Taking a sip, it wasn’t as smoky as the aroma suggested, with just a gentle hint that made it incredibly easy to drink. There was a bright, fruity note with a subtle toasty flavour, and it was relatively light with a clean taste and no jarring quirks, making for a tasty tipple. While it was nice on its own, we imagine it’d go nicely with a meal, and when we closed our eyes, we were able to imagine the fancy scenery of Azabu.

With Azabu in our mind’s eye, we were reminded of the puzzling mystery behind the drink’s name. The inconsistency between product name, manufacturer, and distributor was something we needed to get to the bottom of, so we put in a call to the distributor and received the following reply.

“The canned highball ‘Azabu’ originally stems from ‘Azabu Pure Malt Whisky’, which was co-developed with a company headquartered in Azabu-Juban, Tokyo. We chose the name ‘Azabu’ because the area encapsulates a sophisticated urban culture and high aesthetic sensibilities, which matches the image we wanted for the product.”

The representative went on to say that the popularity of the pure malt whisky led them to make the canned highball, with Cheerio Chubu chosen as the trusted manufacturing partner. Through this collaboration, the canned highball “Azabu” was born.

So in the end, we discovered that the product name “Azabu” does indeed refer to the posh area of Tokyo in which Azabu-Juban resides, and after tasting the highball we can confidently say the sophisticated image of the neighbourhood is a good fit for the sophisticated taste of the drink.

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]]> https://soranews24.com/2025/06/26/canned-japanese-whisky-highball-has-a-sophisticated-history/feed/ 0 705788 Japanese whisky Azabu Highball Tokyo Osaka Aichi shop drink news 1 All-you-can-drink whisky cocktails for under a buck at seafood restaurant with branches in Tokyo https://soranews24.com/2017/04/11/all-you-can-drink-whisky-cocktails-for-under-a-buck-at-seafood-restaurant-with-branches-in-tokyo/ https://soranews24.com/2017/04/11/all-you-can-drink-whisky-cocktails-for-under-a-buck-at-seafood-restaurant-with-branches-in-tokyo/#comments Mon, 10 Apr 2017 17:30:37 +0000 http://en.rocketnews24.com/?p=372164

Grab a friend for one of Japan’s greatest unlimited booze offers ever.

In our never-ending quest to maximize both the amount of alcohol we’ve consumed and the amount of money left in our wallets, we’ve discovered some great all-you-can-drink deals in Tokyo. 600 yen (US$5.40) us about the cheapest we’ve found for a full 60 minutes, while the absolute rock-bottom plan we’ve seen was just 100 yen for 10 minutes.

But in terms of cost-per-minute, the new champion is restaurant chain Sakura Suisan. An izakaya (a type of casual restaurant that serves a variety of small dishes and alcoholic beverages), Sakura Suisan is already known for its extremely reasonable prices for sashimi and other seafood, but even with its reputation preceding it, we were shocked to see how affordable its new all-you-can-drink plan is.

How awesome is it? The offer gets you an unlimited amount of whisky highballs for 60 minutes for just 100 yen (US$0.90).

When we first found out about the deal, we immediately felt like the world has just become a better place. However, all-you-can-drink plans in Japan often come with requirements such as a certain amount of food items that have to be ordered or a minimum amount that must be spent per person. And sure enough, there are two conditions that you have to meet to be eligible for Sakura Suisan’s all-you-can drink offer, but they’re both pretty insignificant.

First, you’ll also have to pay for the 250-yen otoshi. The otoshi is a tiny appetizer that’s customarily served to all diners in an izakaya, as a sort of minimal service charge. However, everyone going to an izakaya gets charged for an otoshi, and 250 yen is about half of what many other chains charge.

▼ Sakura Suisan’s shredded pork and vegetable otoshi

Second, the all-you-can-drink plan is only available for groups of two or more. While that means you can’t take advantage of the offer by yourself, we don’t think it’ll be too hard to find a buddy to go drinking with when the total cost can be as cheap as 350 yen, or 378 (US$3.40) after tax. Even better, you have the full 60 minutes to continue reordering drinks, unlike at some other restaurants where they’ll cut you off 15 minutes before the official end of your all-you-can-drink plan.

The highballs themselves are served in nice, large mugs, and are as tasty as you’d expect for mixed drinks made with quality Suntory-brand whisky. Still, the whole thing seemed a little too good to be true, so we decided to double-check with our waiter.

RocketNews24: “Are there any conditions, like we have to order a set number of items?”

Waiter: “No.”

RN24: “No?”

Waiter: “No.”

RN24: “I see…Well, we won’t but not order anything, just drink highballs and go home, is that allowed? We’re not planning to do that, but…”

Waiter: “Yes, that would be allowed.”

RN24: “Seriously?”

Waiter: “Yes. Well, there’s the otoshi charge of 250 yen, but that’s all.”

Still, since we were sitting in a restaurant that had a kitchen stocked with tempting seafood, we decided to order a few munchies.

▼ Tuna sashimi (390 yen)

▼ Fish sausage (50 yen)

Even with those snacks, though, the total bill for our two-person research team came to just 1, 231 yen.

However, Sakura Suisan realizes this astounding display of generosity isn’t something that it can keep up indefinitely, and so this all-you-can-drink plan is only available until the end of the month. Reservations are also required, but they can be made easily online through Yahoo! Japan here.

Now you just need to find a drinking buddy to go with you, and should all your friends happy to be busy, let us know, because we wouldn’t mind going again.

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