Tokyo Ghoul’s Kaneki and Rize Inspire New Limited Edition Premium Whisky
Image by James RichardsonTokyo Ghoul is getting an official limited-edition whisky, pairing Sui Ishida’s dark fantasy manga with a specially selected 10-year-old Glen Elgin single malt.
The collaboration comes from specialist retailer WHISKY MEW, which has built a long-running series of releases combining carefully selected whiskies with artwork from manga, anime and other areas of Japanese pop culture.
Previous releases have seen them collaborate with series including Death Note, Berserk, Hellsing and Inuyasha.
WHISKY MEW also celebrated Neon Genesis Evangelion’s 30th anniversary, with three separate Scotch whiskies themed around Evangelion units.
Past collaborations have been produced in very small numbers, and this latest Tokyo Ghoul release follows the same approach with only 289 bottles available in total.
Tokyo Ghoul follows university student Ken Kaneki, whose life changes after an encounter with Rize Kamishiro leaves him with transplanted ghoul organs and forces him to exist between the human and ghoul worlds.
The manga has surpassed 47 million copies in circulation, with its story exploring Kaneki’s struggle with his new identity while repeatedly questioning what separates humans and ghouls and how both sides justify their actions.
For the new limited-edition Tokyo Ghoul whisky, whisky critic Hideo Yamaoka selected Glen Elgin 2015, a Speyside single malt aged for 10 years in Scotland and bottled at a powerful 57.3% ABV.
Its aroma is described as fresh and fruity, combining pear, apple and lemon peel with softer notes of freshly baked bread, fruit yogurt and white flowers.
The whisky moves into a light, powdery and relatively dry flavor profile when tasted, with a softer sweetness underneath and a short finish that becomes considerably smoother when water is added.
That floral and fruity Speyside character makes this a very different proposition from the darker imagery associated with Tokyo Ghoul, giving the collaboration an interesting contrast between the bottle’s theme and the whisky inside.
The Tokyo Ghoul Label / Glen Elgin 2015 is priced at ¥16,500 (approx. $103 USD / £76 GBP), with sales being handled via a lottery system that will open for applications through the official WHISKY MEW website in Japan at 12:00 PM JST on September 1 before closing at 11:59 PM JST on September 8, 2026.
Of the 289 bottles being produced, only 239 will be offered to the public through the lottery, with each applicant permitted to request up to two bottles and successful customers expected to receive purchase instructions around September 11.
Successful orders are scheduled to begin shipping from September 14, although WHISKY MEW does not offer overseas delivery, meaning US fans would need to acquire an eligible Japanese delivery address through a proxy service or similar third party before entering the purchase lottery.
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