Kanosuke Single Malt 2022 Limited Edition
Origin: Japan / 59% / Price: ca. 135€
Japan and whisky, two words that in combination have always given me a lot of fun since the beginning of my love for the spirit. But not only that, also many headaches and descents into the rabbit holes of the internet to trace the semi-truths and clues from many brands and bottlings with Japanese letters on them. It's not just me though, the extremely problematic situation that has resulted from the hype around Japanese whisky has led to ingenious results. Like this now very well-known, popular and notorious list/graphic, which has already made many buyers of Japanese whiskies in retrospect certainly cry quite a bit.
With some of those bottlings it is not at all clear who produces them at all, many distilleries, even renowned ones, offer their own malts and at the same time "world whiskies", which usually means blending a certain (sometimes very small) amount of their own spirit with mostly Scottish malts, etc.
Thank God we don't have to deal with these problematic and annoying questions today, because the Kanosuke distillery works absolutely exemplary in this respect. On their modern and very attractively designed website, there is detailed information about the products and even concretely the meaning behind the different designations. So far, only "New Pot" (New Make without any storage), "New Born" (whiskey that has not yet aged the full 3 years) and since 2 years also "Single Malt" (explains itself) is produced and offered.
Why "since 2 years"? Because the Kanosuke distillery only started operations in 2017 and thus could only release its first single malt in 2021 (as you may know, 3 years minimum aging is mandatory). So in 2021 there were two limited editions (called First and Second), then last year there was a Limited Edition for the entire year.
So the distillery has so far also only those "Limited Editions", knowing and anticipating, that this is something for the curious, collectors and whiskey fans who want to follow the path, follow the development. A "normal" single malt for the larger market will certainly be available only in a few years, maybe with 8 or 10 years aging at that point, the future will tell. And this "following the path" can only be fun here, in addition to said transparency and self-production focus, there are other features that make the craft whiskey heart beat faster: The modern and minimalist built distillery with a meditative courtyard directly at the sea coast, the also advertised guided tours including tasting for just 1000 yen (about 7€ !), the already introduced Cask-Owners Club, in which you can secure a barrel to be bottled for you after 3 years. Also, that they have decided to use 3 stills, each in a different design and shape (see photo above), leaves open many interesting mixes and whisky styles in the future.
The specific bottling we want to taste today, has compared to last year now also received a directly visible sherry cask ageing, in addition to the also used ex-shochu casks (another interesting feature of the distillery) and uses distilled malts from all 3 stills.
The malt was bottled in cask strength at a whopping 59% and it comes in a packaging that is really extremely appealing to me. Like the website, the box is typically modern, Japanese minimalist design, yet very characteristic and striking. The orange, black and white theme works, the sides are printed with a photo of the sun setting on location on the Pacific Ocean in Japan's southwest (where the distillery lies) and has a matte, rough texture to the touch while the other 2 sides are smooth. The bottle continues this design language and looks extremely high quality, also due to its very unique, but not too extroverted design.
My personal tasting notes for the whiskey can be found below, but what can be said about the bottle apart from those? Compared to distilleries like Chichibu, for example, which are also very close to my heart, it is not as "funky", but is closer to the Scottish relatives, especially characterful and yet round Highland malts. The most noticeable, non-Scottish note can be found while nosing. In this case, of course, this can generally also be due to good sherry casks, which make possible digressions between the internatonal differences seem smaller. In addition, it seems unsurprisingly much older than the 5 years suggest, blind one would think of 12, maybe even 14 years. This is not only due to the high-quality spirit, but also to the Pacific climate. Think of cases such as Kavalan and Co, although it does not turn out quite as extreme as in Taiwan. However, the faster aging is quite obvious and positive. In general I really like the bottling and malt behind it, especially if you consider the age and also what lousy sherry cask qualities some Scotch producers currently only seem to get on the market. The difference in cask quality is quite distinctive and makes the malt more coherent, with literally zero off-notes compared to some younger Scotches from the last 6-8 years. I am in any case very excited to follow the further path of the distillery now even more closely, because this bottle has definitely made me want to.
Nose:
Figs, brown raw sugar, fresh yeast dough, some orange-ginger jam, for 59% actually relatively elegant and round, purely from the nose I would rather guess towards 50-52%, sweet grasses, the malt note rather elegant and subtle, later more and more apricot and peach, but also dry cherries, honey
Taste:
Intense, here the nose is clearly overtaken in volume and yet it is quite polished, no burning, the orange-ginger jam in full force, nice, fresh bread, now rather rye bread, with quince jelly over it, malt comes across more noticeable, tasty and crisp, actually much closer to Scotch than in the nose, coffee beans, milk chocolate, leather, later noticeable plums, overall clearly on the drier side, quite a bit of oak for the age
Finish:
Malt, oak, relatively classic, grasses and ginger, slight bitterness but not too much, dried cherries and cocoa nibs.
The bottle was prodived by Kirsch Import, thanks!
