Japanese distiller Hatozaki Whisky has released the fifth and sixth editions of its Omakase Collection, which, for the first time, are being made available outside the United States. The two limited edition expressions, created by Master Distiller and Blender Kimio Yonezawa at the Kaikyō Distillery on the shores of the Seto Inland Sea, are being released in strict limited global allocations, making them ideal for a whisky lover’s collection.

The Omakase series has run as US-exclusive to date, so the global release marks the first chance for drinkers elsewhere to buy from the experimental line. Both editions are out now in limited numbers: 3,480 bottles of the Fifth Edition and just 1,884 of the Sixth.

The Fifth Edition is a five-year-old blended malt finished in rare Sakura cherrywood casks. After initial maturation in new charred oak, the whisky spends a year in the cherrywood, drawing out gentle floral notes alongside warming spice and soft fruit. Bottled at 46% ABV, it takes its cue from Japan’s cherry-blossom season.

While the Sixth Edition marks the first time bourbon has been built into a Hatozaki blend. Matured in American oak for layers of coconut, vanilla and toasted spice, it is then finished for three years in rare Mizunara oak, which lends the sandalwood and incense-like notes the Japanese wood is known for. It is bottled at 42% ABV.

Kimio Yonezawa says this, “The Omakase Collection gives me the freedom to explore new ideas in whisky creation. Throughout my journey in whisky, I am always learning, and with new knowledge come new opportunities to experiment. Both of these expressions bring something new to the Hatozaki label — from Sakura wood casks to incorporating bourbon within the blend. It allows us to share our whisky-making philosophy while continuing to learn how whisky matures in our part of Japan.”

Hatozaki is produced at the Kaikyō Distillery in Akashi, Hyōgo Prefecture, where Yonezawa, a fourth-generation distiller, began making whisky in 2017. The Omakase name borrows from the Japanese dining tradition of entrusting the choice to the maker.

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