Kanosuke Distillery is a relatively newer player on the Japanese whisky scene; even newer on the global whisky scene. Established in 2017, it has a backstory and history significantly older and broader than the age of its spirit, but in the increasingly crowded space of world whisk(e)y, it’s a slow process for newer brands – even those with quality products – to make a splash.
For all its visibility, profile, and its broad spread of enthusiastic fans, Japanese whisky remains something of an enigma. For decades, the main brands worked quietly away, doing things in a very Japanese way, i.e. setting about the making of whisky in a very methodical, no-nonsense fashion without blowing their own trumpet. In the tiny circles of the “single malt enthusiasts’ club”, we knew there were truly amazing Japanese malts being bottled, and this was – to us – happily one of the world’s best kept secrets.
That all changed in 2012 when a Yamazaki expression won World’s Best Single Malt at the World Whiskies Awards that year. Other Japanese whiskies won a bunch of awards and accolades at other awards programs and in noted whisky publications over the next four years and, suddenly, the secret was out. Demand rapidly exceeded supply, and the corresponding economics ensured Japanese whisky was a scarce and expensive option for single malt enthusiasts. And so it returned to being an enigmatic product for most drinkers…something you sometimes saw and heard about, without really digging into too deeply. Kanosuke is one of the brands hoping to change that…