Osaka, Japan｜One Shot Bar Keith

Expect to receive some of the warmest hospitality in Japan from the kindest of hosts. For whisky lovers, there's no fooling around. Your host will promptly pull out limited release Japanese whisky depending on your preferred flavour profile, simultaneously being overly transparent (even cautious) on the cost of each dram - all being reasonably priced. Sit back, relax and enjoy the best of what Japanese whisky has to offer.

Nice atmospheric whiskey bar. Very tasty fish and chips. I’m not really a great whiskey drinker but if you are I’d recommend this place.

A dandy and quite serene bar in the corner of a road at the lesser walked side of the Higashi mikuni area. The inside of the place itself is quite old-fashioned but detailed; I spent around fifteen minutes just watching the wall decorations everywhere. The area with the most appeal though is the plethora of whiskey bottles lined up and humbly guarded by the master. Apparently, this bar specializes with Japanese whiskey, so you can't order sake here. There are some bottles that I haven't seen in person yet such as the (in)famous Akkeshi distillery ones that are very hard to find, as well as numbered cask strength bottles from the Chichibu lineup. Of course, drams of such bottles come with a hefty price, in which the master ultimately decides how much. There is no whiskey list, just describe to the master your favorites and he recommends a bottle or to for you to try. The master's partner, the chef, also recommends which snack to pair your whiskey to. In my case, since I ordered a peaty one, she gave me dark chocolate-coated candied almond nuts to counteract with the ethanol-like taste. The service charge is 500 yen and the drams start from 1000 yen upwards (I'd say 4000 to 5000 yen is the middle ground). I recommend this place if you want to try from a high-end Japanese whiskey bottle but do not have the confidence to buy one yet. I haven't tried much from the food options but I'll give it a shot once I have the budget.