This was a masterclass I had been waiting for for a whole year, would you believe it?

Last year, that's 2022, I had saw that one of Japan's rising stars in the new wave of whisky distilleries had come to Singapore's Whisky Journey festival to give a masterclass and believe me, the FOMO was real. Here was a distillery that I had tried across its entire core range and most any private bottlings I could get my hands on, and not only that, but it was showcased by its own founder, Yoshitsugu Komasa, but you can just call him Komasa-san.

Kanosuke Distillery has done exceedingly well in what is otherwise a highly competitive new wave of Japanese distilleries trying to make their mark in the gold rush. Their intense flavours, consistency in quality, and even roll out strategy, has put them at the head of the pack, which is really quite the feat. With just under half a decade, they've bagged silverware at international competitions, secured an investment from Diageo, but most importantly, have captured the hearts and palates of whisky fans in what is a fast growing fanbase.

If you're a fan of the distillery, do check out the Kanosuke Fan Club over on Facebook here.

So of course when 2023 rolled around and I had found that Kanosuke would be hosting a masterclass again - I knew I had to attend or regret it for another year.

A legacy that started four generations ago, today helmed by Yoshitsugu Komasa (pictured) who is bringing the family business to the world stage.

For starters, we got a quick introduction to the background of the distillery's heritage and legacy, going back to Komasa-san's family's pioneering effort in creating world class Shochu. 

The name "Kanosuke" itself comes from Komasa-san's grandfather, Kanosuke Komasa, who is credited with introducing Japan to its first long barrel-aged Shochu, the Mellowed Kozuru.

Prior to this, Shochu while being a traditional Japanese spirit that really is quite all encompassing, with the possibility of using over 50 different types of base ingredients to make various styles of Shochu, was considered to be rather harsh and simple in flavour. Of course in the past century, enhancements in its fermentation and distillation process, as well as better techniques have more recently led to a recent resurgence in popularity of the Japanese spirit, with Kanosuke Komasa's use of barrel-aging adding to that effort.

While Kanosuke's whiskies have garnered much acclaim, the family's Mellowed Kozuru Shochu remains at the heart of what is being produced.

What Kanosuke Komasa did was to age the family's rice Shochu (known as Kome Shochu) in oak barrels for several years (~ 3 to 6 years) to allow its flavours to mellow out and deepen, rounding out any harshness, whilst at the same time developing more nuanced flavours. This was back in the late 1950s and helped make a name for the Komasa family considering how popular and pioneering it was. 

On the back of this success, Kanosuke Komasa had wanted to build upon this by creating a Mellowed Kozuru Village to further explore the efforts of long barrel aging and the production of other types of spirits. Unfortunately he had passed before seeing his dream to completion.

Yoshitsugu Komasa, Kanosuke's grandson, thus decided to build a distillery and name it in honour of his grandfather. Yoshitsugu himself had started out in the family business as a salesperson having studied fermentation techniques at the Tokyo University of Agriculture, but found that it was quite difficult to introduce Shochu to an international audience which was not acquainted with the spirit. His experiences pointed him in the direction of whisky which he believed had global appeal and thus had the potential to put Komasa Jyozo (the family business) on the world map.

This would serve as a foot in the door to getting the consumers of the world introduced to Shochu - this led to Yoshitsugu recommending the family move into whiskies.

| Read: [Distillery Spotlight] Mellow Land, Mellow Whisky – Kanosuke Distillery

Taking us then on a little distillery tour in photos was a Kanosuke staff who shared more on the two distilleries operated by Kanosuke, Kanosuke Distillery itself and the Hioki Distillery, which is a walk away from Kanosuke Distillery.

What's key to note is the intensity of the Kagoshima climate, which features a significantly elevated angel's share of 6-8% compared to Scotland 1-2%, that allows its whiskies to age faster and develop deeper and richer flavours.

The Kanosuke Distillery itself faces the beach, known as Fukiagehama, which is one of Japan's longest white sand beaches, and thus has a lovely sunset between 4 - 6 pm if you visit the distillery's inhouse Mellow Bar.

We also got to see a layout of the two story distillery, with half of its floor space dedicated to whisky production, and the other half dedicated to storing and aging the barrels of whisky.

Fun Fact: The Fukiagehama beach where Kanosuke Distillery sits upon is also a spot for sea turtles to come up to shore!

Creating the ideal flavour profile starts all the way at the beginning. 

We're then taken through a full cycle of how the distillery produces its whiskies from Milling to Fermentation, Distillation and Aging. The distillery uses a Husk : Grits : Flour ratio of 2 : 7 : 1 (or also 2 : 6 : 2), with 85% non-peated and 15% peated barley.

Most of the barley used by the distillery at the moment comes from UK, Europe and Australia, with an increasing amount sourced locally. The staff shared that a key initiative by the distillery is to try and increase the usage of Japanese barley to create a fully local whisky, which is still currently in testing.

But perhaps more importantly, the staff spoke about how Kanosuke's signature fruity and creamy flavour profile is something that starts all the way early in the production process beginning from mashing. Kanosuke uses a longer than average mashing time and actually human tests the mash every cycle before it proceeds to fermentation.

At the fermentation stage, once again a longer fermentation time with the help of a combination of different yeasts is used to create a more fruity wort. And really all throughout the lifecycle of the whisky much is done to create more intense fruity flavours. During maturation, Mellowed Kozuru Shochu Re-Charred American White Oak casks are at the heart of the distillery's aging program, but they also do use Bourbon, Sherry, Wine, IPA and Mizunara casks amongst many others.

The Re-Charred Mellowed Kozuru cask is nonetheless truly critical to creating the signature Kanosuke profile, where it first holds the Shochu for at least 10 years, after which it is re-charred by the famous Ariake cooperage, and then finally used for whisky maturation - it is what ultimately sets Kanosuke apart.

Much of Kanosuke's process embodies 140 years of Shochu making.

But further to that, another key aspect of the masterclass emphasised heavily on how Kanosuke is heavily influenced by its Shochu heritage, and has taken many lessons from over 140 years of Shochu-making and applied it to whiskymaking.

This can be seen in two critical junctures of the whisky production process - fermentation and distillation.

Firstly the layout of the Fermentation Room follows that of the same process in Shochu-making, which only the cover of the fermentation tanks exposed and the rest of the vessel lies beneath the floor panels. Underneath, the vessel body is wrapped in cooling water jackets - also used in Shochu-making - which allows the washbacks to keep in the ideal temperature range for the yeast and lactic acid bacterias to create alcohol and esters.

One foot in the future, and one foot in the past, keeps Kanosuke unique.

Over in the distillation process, Kanosuke has three different pot stills with completely different setups which allows for 4 different combinations of whisky styles to be produced - 1. Wash Still and Spirit Still 1, 2. Wash Still and Spirit Still 2, 3. Spirit Stills 1 & 2, and 4. All Three Stills.

This allows the distillery to create whisky styles of different flavour profiles and textures, which is further enhanced through the atypical use of worm tubs. 

Worm tubs are itself not all that common today in Scotland, and are an added component beyond the distillation still that increases reflux bu quickly cooling the vapour back into liquid that has a heavier body from reduced contact with the copper pipes. This is again yet another lesson learnt from Shochu making which makes use of the key piece of equipment to make more powerful, full bodied and robust spirits.

| Read: Come With Us On A Visit To Kanosuke Distillery!

With the masterclass having taken us through Kanosuke's history, more about the distillery today, and how it makes its whiskies, it is time to try a selection of what makes Kanosuke Kanosuke.

Let's go!

First up, we have not a whisky - the Mellowed Kozuru Excellence Shochu!

After all, we have to start with where it all began don't we. Key to note here is that this rice Shochu (or Kome Shochu) is bottled at a whopping 41% ABV, which puts it on par with whisky's proof!

The Mellowed Kozuru Excellence is by category a Honkaku Shochu, made with only rice, koji and water by definition, which is then distilled thrice (more than the conventional standard) and then subsequently aged between 4 - 6 years in oak casks.

The Mellow Kozuru Excellence Shochu was of a light white wine colour, lightly tinted, and to my surprise had an incredibly vibrant aroma of honey, fresh bread, vanilla and even a little bit lychee. It was mellow and had a ton of depth, almost reminiscent of a sweet Sauterne wine - quite honestly, unlike any other Shochu I've had (which worth noting is also that outside of Japan, most Shochus are kept at ~20%, half of this).

On the palate, the bright brilliance continued with sweet honey, vanilla cream, maltose candy, white florals and topped with some spices of clove, anise and pepper. There's also a light note of elderflower too. The finish was surprisingly clean and crisp with more of that pronounced elderflower, vanilla cream and honey flavour, in fact somewhat Sake like. Somewhat surprising is also that I didn't notice any tannins or oakiness despite its aging.

This was a massively delightful surprise and I really enjoyed it more than I thought I would considering other Shochu's I've had. This had an incredible amount of depth and thickness of its flavours, while at the same time maintaining a creamy texture and being very much rounded. You don't at all get much booze - which is the "Mellow" I suppose - and is somewhat of a cross between a Sauterne wine and a medium-sweet Sake. 

We move on to two flagship whisky expressions that have been launched by the distillery - the Kanosuke 2023 Limited Edition and the Kanosuke Single Malt Japanese Whisky.

Let's start with the Kanosuke Single Malt Japanese Whisky - this is the distillery's first core release, much to the elation of many fans who would've found it difficult to get in on the Limited Edition bottlings that were gone before they hit shelves. As we've seen with other emerging Japanese whisky distilleries, that scarcity is most realistically a poor hand played well considering that with craft distilleries production is typically small and hence they very easily can't keep up with demand - now throw in the use of local ingredients, and the all the things that make its craft, and now you've got an operational nightmare. But it's all good, because that comes off as being more sought after, which is why a core release from Kanosuke so soon is nothing short of a godsend. 

| Full Review: Kanosuke Single Malt

This expression combines whisky aged in Re-Char, Bourbon, Sherry, Red Wine, and Peated Re-Char (basically the whole kitchen sink) and is bottled at a nice 48% ABV. It was a warm amber colour which packed in the signature Kanosuke aromas of caramel custard, poached apples, cinnamon, and alittle bit of a side of grapefruit zest and citrus - apparently Japanese distilleries tend to produce spirits that match their surrounding agriculture, and Kagoshima is rich with just those baskets of orchard fruits. On the nose there's also some black tea tannins and a hit of ripe yellow bananas. Tasting it, there's quince jam, apple pie filling with the spices, and then more herbal Pei Pa Koa syrup, and alittle bit of poached ginger a la tangyuan. More bittersweet black tea notes on the finish with some citron tea and palm sugar. This was a a classic Kanosuke, which if given some air time, opens up really well.

Now we get to the Kanosuke 2023 Limited Edition. This was made to highlight the use of peated malt, and was aged in a combination of ex-Mellowed Kozuru Shochu and ex-Sherry casks, bottled at 59% ABV.

It's a deeper amber, starting off with a little peaty ashiness with a very slight medicinal quality - very aromatic, hugely driven by the ex-Sherry flavours of spiced honey, mulled wine, cacao powder. On the palate it's noticeably oily, still lightly medicinal and herbaceous, cough syrup, and then very delightfully it evolves into more on glutinous rice cakes - sweet, chewy and starchy, and then the classic cinnamon and apple pie filling. The finish was really big, lots of that rice cake sweetness and then more of the soot and ash. This was a very well done three piece combo of ex-Shochu, ex-Sherry and the Kanosuke whisky itself - it manages to juggle competing flavours to create lots of complexity and nuance, and with all the power and depth to make it really satisfying.

| Full Review: Kanosuke 2023 Limited Edition

Now onto two very new Kanosukes! You know you're in for something really cool when you see these WIP/Prototype/R&D/Non-Commercial labels - one of the awesome things about coming down for masterclasses and spirit festivals honestly. We're going to try the newly launched Hioki Pot Still and a Double Distillery Prototype which is not for sale anytime soon.

We're starting with the Kanosuke Hioki Pot Still. This is the first instance the distillery is formally putting out whisky made from its other distillery Hioki. It's made using a combination of unmalted and malted barley and then distilled in a pot still, which the staff likened to the process used by Irish whiskey distilleries. The Hioki distillery actually predates Kanosuke Distillery, and has been part of the production complex for parent Komasa Jyozo's Shochu-making. Nonetheless the reason it's beginning to gain more attention from Kanosuke with regards to whisky is because the distillery has highlighted its role in helping to produce grain whiskies for Kanosuke which will be needed to create top notch blended whiskies. Hence some part of Hioki has been retrofitted for that purpose, with the remaining capacity still kept for Shochu and also gin. Thus even with the Hioki Pot Still expression, this is really just the start for the distillery, so expect more in coming years.

On to tasting it! This was just released in Japan the very day we got to try it at the masterclass, and is aged in virgin American White Oak Casks and Bourbon barrels, aged for about 3.5 years old before bottling at 51% ABV. This had a gold colour, and was incredibly aromatic on the nose, with notes of black sugar, caramel custard, black tea, red apples, orange marmalade and honey lemon candy. With time it evolved into denser notes of cooked plums, dried apricots and root herbs. It's quite fruity with a denser, darker profile. On the palate, again with the dense and darker cooked fruits - plums, orange marmalade and manuka honey. There's some toasted almonds and cinnamon in the mix as well, starting off quite spicy but rounding out mid palate. On the finish, more herbal with denser, sweeter notes of sticky date pudding, before brightening up to a more Bourbon-like quality of confectionaries and baked pastries.

The big wow factor here was obviously how aromatic it was, but also great denseness and fruitiness from nose to palate too, with this veil of herbal, almost medicinal quality to it. While it did come off alittle sharp and less rounded than we're used to with Kanosuke's whiskies, it did have some really interesting flavours to its nose and finish.

Let's get on to the final pour of the day, here's the Kanosuke Double Distillery Kanosuke x Hioki Pot Still Malt Whisky. This is, as the name suggests, a blend of the whiskies distilled at Kanosuke Distillery and Hioki Distillery, the former is a single malt and the latter a pot still whisky, which is then aged together at Kanosuke Distillery (think of it as a blend of the core Kanosuke Single Malt and the Hioki Pot Still Whisky). It's aged in Re-charred Ex-Mellowed Kozuru Shochu casks, Virgin American White Oak casks, Bourbon barrels and Sherry casks, and then bottled at 53% ABV.

Here we got a lighter gold colour, with gentle scents of honey, plum, apricots as well as quite a bit of mint and chalkiness on the nose - to be honest, alittle quiet. On the palate, surprisingly bright and vibrant, with an outpouring of honey, orange marmalade, red apples, cinnamon sugar, black tea, and more on salted caramel and licorice. It started off spicy and heavy flavoured with lots of depth, fruits and sweetness, before more mint and cloves. On the finish, more of that honey lemon candy, then a more herbal and herbaceous quality of eucalyptus and mint. 

This was rather muted on the aromas, but when it hit on the palate, it was an incredible burst of vibrance - there's overlaps of the classic Kanosuke profile but also more of what we saw with the Hioki Pot Still especially the oranges, mint and licorice. While this packed in a whole host of flavour to a palette we've not yet seen from Kanosuke before, I did feel that it could use more cohesiveness, perhaps more time marrying the two whiskies, and at the same time it was a rather strange feeling as we begin to move away from that classic Kanosuke profile that we've so come to love in the whirlwind of the past 3 years. Nonetheless, that vibrance and heavy spices, along with the robustness and liveliness of the flavours on the palate are really indicative of what Kanosuke is building towards!

Komasa-san with our pal from Friends With Drams.

All in all, it was a great session that served not only as a really thorough overview of Kanosuke - its legacy, its present reality, and what it's working towards in the future. Komasa-san was incredibly warm and was happy to stay around to speak to anyone, and always showed such great enthusiasm and appreciation for anyone trying his whiskies, and also outlined his desire to bring Kanosuke's whiskies and Komasa Jyozo's Mellowed Kozuru Shochu to the world - something we can all get behind!

A wonderful tasting through the growing tapestry that is Kanosuke! 

Kanpai!

@111hotpot