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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