Whisky: Kanosuke 4 Year (2018), Thompson Brothers Cask 20463

Country/Region: Japan

ABV: 58%

Cask: Oak

Age: 4 Years (Distilled 2018)

Nose: Fruity and herbal with plums, licorice, and cinnamon; subtle candied cigarettes with bubble gum, honey, and chamomile tea; a touch of clove cigarettes and tobacco.

Palate: Medium-bodied, herbal and fruits, preserved plums and pickled pears, ginger, licorice, peppercorns, subtle earth moved toward dried grass, menthol, cigar box; more oak and tobacco toward the end with a peppery spirited prickle.

Finish: Medium-length with preserved plums, licorice, and oak.

Score: 6- (76)

Mental Image: Big Tobacco for the Kids!

Narrative & Notes: The aroma was fruity and herbal, with the candies of my childhood and the flavored cigarettes of my early 20s. Candied cigarettes with hints of licorice, cinnamon, and bubblegum were favorites as a child, though surely that served to encourage childhood adoption of smoking. If that was not enough, the clove and menthol-scented cigarettes and tobacco did the trick. Beyond tobacco industry products directed toward the youth were honey and chamomile tea, which paired nicely with oak and pastry notes.  Medium-bodied on the palate, there were still plenty of fruit and herbal notions as the malt transitioned from preserved plums and pickled pears with hints of ginger and licorice to chamomile tea and honey with more oak and a peppery spirited prickle.  In between were notions of peppercorns, earth, dried grass, menthol, and rich cigar box.  The finish was medium-length and rich with preserved plum, licorice, and oak.

I love tobacco notes, but I do not love bubblegum notes. This whisky had a bit of both, sometimes at the same time.  Everything seemed to return to chamomile and honey— a sweet herbal quality that relaxed the palate and balanced some of the peppery spirit.  The profile was nicely balanced and interesting, though perhaps not always well-integrated as the youthful spirit pushed and pulled in different directions.

Few Japanese distilleries allow independent bottlers to trade or buy casks, and it is always a pleasure finding one— and a modern one!  This was no dusty bottle from the '90s or early 2000s when the industry faced dark times, and casks were occasionally made available.  Kanosuke opened in 2018 as part of the most recent wave of Japanese distilleries, and they have followed the example of Chichibu engaging more with independent bottlers and cask trading than their larger conglomerate forerunners— though they have also followed the pathway of the more prominent whisky players in opening a second distillery, Hioki.

Overall, a unique whisky with some unusual flavor combinations. I remain bullish on Kanosuke, Shizuoka, and some of the new players in the Japanese whisky scene.  Maybe the score seems disappointing, but it is a mark of the real potential and progress coming from Kanosuke, considering this was from the first year of distillation.  I cannot wait to try more.

Image Credit: The Whisky Shop