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…
Kanosuke might be the new kid on the block but, to continue the metaphor, its parents have been living on the block next door for some time….141 years, to be precise! To fully understand Kanosuke, you first need to understand a little bit about shochu….
The story goes back to 1883 when Komasa Ichisuke founded Komasa Jyozo in Kagoshima at the very southern tip of Japan’s Kyushu island to make sake. His son, Kanosuke Komasa, turned his hand to shochu, and the family business grew to become one of the leading shochu houses in Japan. Shochu is a distilled spirit in much the same vein as whisky, brandy, or rum, except that the ingredient base can be (and often is) a pretty mixed bag. Base grains and vegetables can include rice, potato, buckwheat, barley, and other more obscure ingredients such as shiso, radishes, even chestnuts! However, shochu’s main talking point – and point of difference – is the addition of koji to the fermentation. This gives the resulting wash and subsequent distillate a unique umami character. It is typically bottled at around 20-25% ABV.
In 1957, Kanosuke Komasa added a new shochu product to its portfolio, namely Mellowed Kozuru. This was the first shochu to be aged in oak barrels! The company grew further and expanded under the strength of this product over the ensuing decades. Armed with the experience and knowledge of distilling and then aging spirit in oak casks, it is perhaps no surprise that the company looked to expand into whisky production. Construction of the distillery commenced at the start of 2017; the first spirit flowed from the stills before the year was out.
Situated on company land that was already home to several of its shochu warehouses, the distillery was built less than 100m from the ocean on the west coast of Kagoshima. The southern tip of Kyushu experiences a typically warmer climate, bordering on humid, but the sea breeze obviously tempers that whilst adding a maritime character to the maturation environment. Shochu casks are generally 600L, which would ordinarily mean the spirit needs more time in the cask to reach maturity. However, the warmer climate here drives a faster maturation, and so Kanosuke’s whiskies are reaching impressive levels of maturation and development in as little as three or four years. Not unlike the evaporation rates experienced by distilleries in Taiwan and India near this line of latitude, the angel’s share here is much higher than that found in Scotland, as high as 7-8%.
So is Kanosuke just another Japanese whisky distillery looking to emulate what’s made in Scotland? Not at all! Notwithstanding the traditional copper pot stills, and the conventional fermentation and distillation (including the use of wormtub condensers, which is actually standard for shochu production), Kanosuke’s individual fingerprint comes from maturation. In a delightful example of utilising assets already within the company, all of Kanosuke’s whisky spirit is initially matured in re-charred ex-shochu casks for anywhere between six months and two years. Not being bound to the rigid requirements of the Scotch Whisky Association, Kanosuke is then free to manipulate, vat, and blend this spirit as it chooses.
Depending on the destination blend, vatting, or product in mind, the spirit is typically re-racked into more traditional ex-bourbon and ex-sherry casks. Kanosuke whiskies can be single malts; they can even be single casks, but they have also bottled blended malts and blended whiskies. (Confused about the difference? Why, oh why, did the SWA ban the term “vatted malt”? If you’re not across this, there’s a good summary here.) Parent company, Komasa Jyozo, has also produced a grain whisky at its nearby Hioki distillery, and has bottled and released several expressions that combine the spirit from both plants. (In a plot twist, the grain whisky made at Hioki is actually 100% barley, albeit 90% unmalted with 10% malted barley).
Kanosuke’s whiskies thus have a diverse and rich palette from which to draw from: The distillery makes both peated and unpeated variants. It can combine whiskies from an almost infinite number of permutations between spirit that has only been in an ex-shochu cask; spirit that was once in an ex-shochu cask but finished in any number of other casks; spirit from the Kanosuke stills; spirit from the Hioki stills; and – if it wishes to – spirit sourced from other distilleries further afield. This capacity and flexibility to make a broad range of whiskies “in-house” is one of the more compelling aspects to Japanese whisky.
Another notable aspect to Kanosuke is its partnership with Distill Ventures, which kicked off in 2019. Distill Ventures, linked with Diageo, is often described as an accelerator. Ultimately, it’s an investment arm that acquires a small stake in emerging and promising drinks businesses, providing capital and support while allowing the founders to retain control of the business. It is active across many different drinks categories, but its whisky portfolio includes the likes of Westward (USA), Starward (Australia), Stauning (Denmark), and Fielden (UK). Kanosuke’s partnership with Distill Ventures has played no small role in the brand gaining significant reach in a relatively short period of time.
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The paragraphs to follow may be of more interest to Australian readers only, but Kanosuke has recently embarked on raising its visibility in Australia. The brand is distributed in Australia by drinks legend Jose Dymenstein via Casa de Vinos in Melbourne. Jose made a rare visit to Sydney this week to unveil a diverse range of Kanosuke whiskies to an assembled audience. The event was held at Besuto Omakase & Whisky Bar.
A brief diversion here is warranted: If Japanese whisky is your thing, or you want to learn more about Japanese whisky, or you simply want to taste brands, bottlings, and expressions of Japanese whisky that you won’t find anywhere else…..then Bar Besuto is your destination. I have never seen a more concentrated and impressive collection of Japanese whisky in the one venue. Owner, Joel Best, is a self-confessed Japanophile, having been to Japan “hundreds of times, and toured through every distillery there is.” (That’s over 140, by the way, from established to emerging). The venue is a two-in-one affair, with a separate Omakase restaurant accessed via the bar. In true Japanese style, the bar is small and with limited seating, but that adds to the whole appeal. Located in Underwood Street, just a stone’s throw from Circular Quay, head down the basement stairs for a little piece of Japan here in Sydney. Full details here.
For this media launch, we tasted the Kanosuke new make spirit, followed by six Kanosuke aged expressions, namely:
Kanosuke Mellow
Kanosuke Hioki Pot Still
Kanosuke Double Distillery
Kanosuke 2023 Limited Edition
Kanosuke New Born Peated Single Cask
Kanosuke Single Cask (Six month finish in Spanish oak ex-Oloroso cask)
The new make spirit was unusually fragrant, with perhaps more “perfumey” notes than cereal notes – but then the palate restored the balance with dry and spicy cereal. As hinted on earlier in this piece, one of Kanosuke’s great strengths is the diverse range of what it can bottle under its own roof, and this line-up showcased that diversity beautifully. There were whiskies that were sweet; some dry and spicy; others displayed a pronounced grassy and/or floral character. Some whiskies displayed a light peatiness; while the New Born Peated had a very Laphroaig-like smokiness. (Serve this to someone blind and tell them its from Islay…they’ll believe you!) Some of the whiskies had the vibrancy of youth – that’s not a euphemism or criticism by the way, just an acknowledgement that a two or three year old whisky from a warm-climate location will have some zest and spice that you won’t find in an 18yo Speysider.
Whisky itself has a broad range of styles and flavours, and if you haven’t yet found the style that appeals to you most, it can be a daunting prospect to explore what’s out there. If you wanted to explore a diverse range of styles across a broad spectrum without getting out of your bar stool….head down to Bar Besuto and let Joel take you through a flight of Kanosuke whiskies. I suspect you’ll find your mark!
Cheers,
AD
PS…keen to know more about Japanese whisky? You might like our other article here which gives a brief history of the Japanese whisky industry.
