Clients
Our long-term partner clients are global leaders of outstanding brands who are at the critical stage of accelerating their business in Japan through a combination of strategic vision, discipline, strong business acumen, and the mindset of taking a long-term approach, which is key to success in Japan.
We proudly act as our partners’ local team of advisors, working together to craft and execute successful strategies for entry and expansion.
Giffard
Giffard is the premiere specialist of maceration, liqueurs and syrups. Since the creation of Menthe Pastille by Emile Giffard in the summer of 1885, the Giffard family has been driven by a consistent entrepreneurial spirit. Five generations later, Giffard is a world-class brand crafted proudly in France, and featuring local herbs and fruits. The brand is chosen by bartenders, mixologists and baristas for its uncompromising flavors, its long-term philosophy, and the quality and concentration of its ingredients.
Giffard liqueurs are distributed by Koto Corporation, a specialized importer of wine and spirits, and Giffard syrups are distributed by Ogawa Coffee, a leading coffee company. Our team is working closely on the ground with Koto, Ogawa and Giffard teams to expand the brand within the cocktail bar and coffee world.
Intrepid Spirits
Intrepid Spirits is a global beverage company with a fast-growing portfolio of innovative and premium brands. It has offices in Dublin, California, as well as in Shanghai, and most recently in Tokyo.
Its flagship brand Cocalero is the top-selling liqueur brand in Japan’s market, and is also recognized globally as the most successful brand in the industry over the past decade.
Intrepid Spirits launches its premium portfolio in 2022, which includes the following:
– Egan’s Irish Whiskey: Legacy brand born in the heart of Ireland, with six generations of excellence in the making.
– Mad March Hare: Premium Irish Poitin, an original Irish craft spirit that continues to be quietly distilled from malted barley in a copper pot today, following an ancestral recipe.
– Regal Rogue: Hand-crafted marriage of organic Australian wine blended with aromatics sourced from Aboriginal farmers.
Our team is accelerating Intrepid’s business in Japan, focusing upon commercial strategy and expansion of the brand’s existing channels.
Kogarashi
In the inaugural year of the new Reiwa Era, the brewers at Nihonsakari – in partnership with Japanese craft beer company August Beer – introduced Kogarashi (the “northern wind”) to the bar world. An unpasteurized Junmai Daiginjo sake, Kogarashi represents the highest grade of sake made with a rice polishing ratio of 50% and signals the height of a brewmaster’s ability. Unpasteurized sake, named “namazake”, is the rising star of the modern sake word – characterized by a fresh aroma.
Kogarashi is brewed at Nihonsakari, proudly brewing since 1897 in Nada to become Japan’s fifth-largest sake company. Nihonsakari is renowned for its exceptional brewers, who trained here from a young age and spent years polishing their skills at Nihonsakari Brewery. Many of these brewers then moved onto their own breweries to create famous sake brands such as Dassai and Kubota.
Kogarashi is offering a fragrant bouquet, an elegant taste and fresh acidity, all of which make it an highly versatile sake and a gold standard for the wine and cocktail bar world