Honkaku Spirits is rolling out new packaging for Takamine 8 Year Old Koji Whiskey, directly honoring its namesake Jokichi Takamine, in time for what would have been his 170th birthday.

In 1891, Jokichi Takamine patented a whiskey making process using traditional Japanese koji fermentation, which is far more efficient than malting. The Chicago Tribune publicized this news and, two weeks later, Takamine’s lab and distillery were mysteriously burnt down. The whiskey never reached the public.

Professor Takamine moved on to develop and patent medicines, including digestion aid Taka-Diastase (pictured at right), also based on koji and the first microbial enzyme to be manufactured in the United States. By 1895 Taka-Diastase was being aggressively marketed by Detroit-based Parke, Davis & Company (now a subsidiary of Pfizer). In 1900 Dr. Takamine was the first to isolate and patent a human hormone, adrenaline, a discovery which still saves lives today.

The new whiskey packaging pays homage to Dr. Takamine’s resilience, incorporating many of the packaging elements from Taka-Diastase. The packaging graphics clearly reference Taka-Diastase, and more subtly:

The hand-torn label is made of washi (rice) paper, an industry Jokichi oversaw for the Japanese Ministry of Agriculture and Commerce in the late 1880s; and

Jokichi’s signature is shown in both Latin and Japanese configurations, signifying his lifelong efforts to foster relations between his home and adopted countries; in fact, one of Jokichi’s final acts was to donate the cherry blossom trees to Washington, DC.

Barley-based Takamine 8 Year Old Koji Whiskey (SRP: $99 /750ml; ABV 40%) is made at Shinozaki Distillery, in Fukuoka Japan. Christopher Pellegrini, founder of Honkaku Spirits, said in a news release, “We are so pleased to honor Jokichi Takamine’s 170th birthday by making his incredible story even more visible.”

This whiskey, and the rest of the Honkaku Spirits portfolio, is distributed by Winebow in 14 states and by independent distributors in 11 more. Takamine 8 Year Old Koji Whiskey can also be purchased online.

For more information, visit https://honkakuspirits.com/.