filliers master distiller mizunara oak finish
How do you launch something that barely exists? Filliers Distillery bottled one cask. One. Good for 393 bottles worldwide. Not a campaign for the masses, then, but an evening for those who taste the difference. Ça tombe bien.
The cask
Distilled in February 2019 from Belgian malted barley, five years in a first-fill bourbon cask, then two more in Mizunara, the Japanese water oak: some 200 years to mature, rarely felled, notoriously porous. Not a wood for beginners.
Master Distiller Pedro Saez Del Burgo: “With this whisky, we bring two worlds of whisky together. Thanks to Mizunara, the classic structure of bourbon maturation takes on a surprisingly elegant, modern and exotic touch.”
Coconut, sandalwood, ripe apricot, a hint of cedar. Single cask, 45.1%, 149 euros. Per bottle, not per glass.
The evening
On 31 August 2026, 51 guests (press, influencers, bartenders and Filliers clients) came to the distillery in Deinze. The weather had other plans, bien sûr, so Ran Van Ongevalle (Shibuya) poured his Tribute Gin cocktails in the Filliers Bar. A gong sent everyone through the noren with the F and à table: one long table in the maturation warehouse, among the casks. Chef Yves Kerckhoffs (Rizoom) cooked Japanese with Flemish seriousness: aged hamachi, Irish Mór oyster with sake kasu. Annabelle Maes (Kaori) poured the sake. The moment suprême came last: tasting straight from the cask with Benoit Filliers and Pedro.
The result
The press release went out on 1 September, in Dutch and French. The Spirits Business, L’Avenir, Het Nieuws van West-Vlaanderen, Tasty Trails, Whisky Monkeys and The Daily Whisky followed. The samples? Gone before we knew it. Scarcity works, on journalists too. Online, 25 influencers produced 107 pieces of content, for an estimated reach of 297,000. Total earned media value: over 38,000 euros.
393 bottles. One evening. Not one too many.
Credits — Client: Filliers Distillery · Concept & organisation: alicebown.agency · Cocktails: Ran Van Ongevalle (Shibuya) · Chef: Yves Kerckhoffs (Rizoom) with Sir Catering · Sake: Annabelle Maes (Kaori) · Photos: @alicebown.agency
