We last spoke about Nagahama quite some time ago - at the time there were just 8 distilleries in Japan when the craft beer brewery had just about gotten ready to start making whisky in 2016 - and since then lots have happened. The distillery now boasts their first flagship expressions, rather straightforwardly named the Nagahama Single Malt First Batch, Second Batch, Third Batch, and so on. Meanwhile their Amahagan World Blends have become a cult hit with their various anime inspired labels, and they've also notched numerous new collaborations with other Japanese distilleries (and now a French one too!) with their Inazuma blends that combine Nagahama's whisky with their collaborator's whisky.

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Nagahama's brewpub and distillery!

And so it's more than overdue for us to check back in with Nagahama to find out what's been going on, and of course to taste some of their flagship Japanese single malts. Thankfully we've got Whisky Journey Singapore who're not only one of the country's largest showcase of whisky brands where folks get to try whiskies from over 30 distilleries, but who also run great masterclasses with some very exciting producers - like Nagahama for instance! We were pretty lucky to get to sit in and find out more from Nagahama's Head Distiller Yuya Ihara.

Yuya first started off the masterclass with a brief introduction to the distillery. Before there was the Nagahama Distillery, there was the Nagahama Roman Brewery (fun fact: the "Roman" is actually shortened from "romantic"!), which was established in 1996, in the face of Japan's deregulation of beer brewing, which resulted in a proliferation of craft breweries around Japan. Over the next decades, the Nagahama Roman Brewery, which sat by the coast of the scenic Lake Biwa, Japan's largest inland lake, operated a successful brewpub that served hoppy Citra-forward citrusy pale ales and a great selection of food.

Yet a 2016 trip to Scotland would convince the Nagahama Brewery team that perhaps it might prove interesting for them to start distilling as well - visits to the Eden Mill brewery-meets-distillery and Strathearn, Scotland's smallest distillery, convinced the team that this was viable, and they too had saw many shared similarities between beer brewing and whisky distilling, with both produced using barley and involving a good grasp on fermentation. Nagahama would thus began to make earnest plans into remodelling their brewpub to fit whiskymaking equipment in there as well. In record pace, the distilling outfit was up by the end of 2016!

Within their very first year they would hone their blending skills with the Amahagan world blends which included whiskies sourced from outside of Japan, and would also start filling their spirit in a wide variety of cask types, with even miniature barrels sold as a age-your-own-whisky set that came with a bottle of new make that folks could purchase and age their own whisky at home! They also began collaborating with other Japanese distilleries in swapping whiskies which gave Nagahama access to different styles of whiskies that would then be blended by the Nagahama team under their Inazuma series (which always features two birds, each one native to the home of the two parties to the collaboration). Despite numerous single cask releases, it wasn't until 2022 that the distillery would release their first flagship single malt expression, the Nagahama Single Malt The First Batch, which would come in at a solid 5 years old. Since then more editions of the distillery's flagship single malt expression has been released - some of which we'll try today! 

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Yet perhaps one of the developments that piqued my interest most was the part where Yuya spoke on how Nagahama ages its whiskies - considering that the distillery operates out of the brewpub, there's not all that much space on premise to be storing a sizeable number of whisky barrels. And thus what Nagahama has done has been incredible adaptable and quick-footed. They've selected two ageing sites - the first is an abandoned tunnel in the local area, and the second is a disused school building also in the local area!

The abandoned tunnel has been very nicely made into the Nagahama Aging Cellar and offers a micro-climate of stable temperature and higher humidity, where it creates slow and moderate maturation for the whiskies, resulting in more fruity flavours. The disused school building has been refurbished into the Azai Factory where barrels are stacked in classrooms and along the hallways! Here the whiskies are exposed to a wider set of temperature differences going from -4 degrees Celsius and up to 36 degrees Celsius, this in turn accelerates maturation, causing the whisky to absorb more cask characteristics. 

And so with that said, it was time to move on to talking about the star of the show - Nagahama's flagship single malt expressions!

As we see from the presentation above, the distillery draws a distinction between its Single Cask and Single Malt line-up. The Single Cask expression are released spontaneously in much smaller quantities (~300 bottles per cask) and are thus highly varied from one expression to the next, whilst the Single Malt expressions are meant to more regular and in larger quantities (~10,000 bottles per batch) making them more accessible. One thing that's of course consistent here is that these are all 100% authentic Japanese single malts that are fully compliant with Japanese whisky labelling standards! 

With all that covered, it's now time to review a couple of whiskies from Nagahama!

Today we'll be reviewing the Nagahama Single Malt The Second Batch and The Third Batch, as well as a revisit to the Amahagan World Malt Edition No. 1 (which by the way, if you hadn't yet noticed, "Amahagan" is simply "Nagahama" spelt backwards!).

Let's go!

Whisky Review: Nagahama Single Malt The Second Batch, 50% ABV

This Japanese single malt expression combines Sherry with light peat, and is a blend of four cask types - Oloroso sherry casks, Koval whisky casks, Islay casks and Bourbon casks. 

Tasting Notes

Colour: Copper

Aroma: Really rich and fresh, with loads of brown sugar, caramel, prunes, sweet mulled wine, cooked plums. It tends towards some confectionary qualities at times, with some baked plum pies. It leans brighter and more lifted yet takes a rounded and rich sense about it - it's not heavy or dense, but certainly is rich and really cohesive. This is a much fresher take on Sherry, with none of that rancio, where here it leans lighter and more towards raisins, fruitcake and cooked plums. It's really vibrant yet rich!

Taste: Really nice freshness here, with good depth and richness to it. It leans sweeter, and yet again it's not heavy, dense or sticky - it's almost the consistency of mulled wine. Here it's on the same prunes, plums, raisins, filled in with caramel and brown sugar. There's a topping of cinnamon, cloves and some pepper here as well. Medium-bodied, remarkable balance between freshness and richness.

Finish: More peppery into finish, the sweetness and richness and freshness persists, again with all those brown sugar, prunes, plums and raisins, and toffee. It's giving a deep warmth and a long finish.

My Thoughts 

I found this a really balanced take on Sherry that I enjoyed a whole lot - this was fresher, more balanced, yet took on all of that richness with those dark fruits, spices and brown sugars, and yet there wasn't any of that rancio nor was it sticky sweet, or was filled with more dried fruits and forest floors. This felt much more lifted and brighter, with no loss of richness here. It also had great intensity to it, was very lively and vibrant on the nose and palate and that gave it a good presence as well. 

I know Sherry bomb heads might lean towards those uber savoury umami or more dry styles - this isn't either of that, it's much fresher and brighter, and I think it's the sort of whisky that can appeal to even the most die-hard Sherry naysayers. Super approachable, rounded, fresh and easy! 

Whisky Review: Nagahama Single Malt The Third Batch, 50% ABV

The Third Batch focuses more on expressing smokiness, and this is a blend of four cask types - Bourbon casks, Islay casks, Koval casks and Mizunara, the last of which is the key component.

Tasting Notes 

Colour: Light Gold

Aroma: Bright and honeyed here, vanilla frosting, some light smoke, along with servings of green fruits of gooseberries and kiwi. The smokiness here is a gentle cold smoke, which comes alongside that incredibly honeyed richness.

Taste: Really good richness here, it's velvety and supple, again filled in lots of honey and vanilla cream. The smokiness here is soft. There's a good punchiness to the body, with more on cooked plums and prunes, along with some leather at the back. Even alittle bit of a herbaceous character.

Finish: More of that characteristically Islay smoke - herbaceous and salty, there's kombu seaweed and a splash of seawater. Some of the Sherry also comes through here, although it mostly fills the backdrop. Soft and gentle finish.

My Thoughts 

Really good cohesiveness here - this is probably my favourite Islay cask matured whisky that I've had. I tend to find that Islay cask whiskies seem to be rather tricky - they either come off too gentle and thin, and sort of feel like a separate layer over the whisky, or otherwise it can come off rather forceful; always seems to be a matter of integrating the cask versus the spirit. Here it's achieved a great integration, with the Islay characters playing a harmonious part of the overall flavour profile of the whisky, fitting in really snuggly - it's present yet not forced.

It also has a really supple and soft body that takes the smoke really well, almost accentuating the existing flavours and giving it a new dimension. Really good expression of the Islay character here! 

Whisky Review: Amahagan World Malt Whisky Edition No. 1

Amahagan is Nagahama's world blend that's made with the focus on demonstrating the distillery's blending abilities, and thus combines Nagahama's own whisky along with whiskies sourced from outside of Japan - kudos to the distillery for making this really clear on the front label where they highlight that as a new craft distillery with not enough aged whiskies, a world blend would be the best way for the distillery to demonstrate their blending ability.

Nevertheless the Amahagan line up has taken on a life of its own, with several editions given an anime collaboration that has really taken off!

Tasting Notes 

Colour: Light Gold

Aroma: Bright and confectionary, there's an outline of orange blossoms, and is filled in with vanilla frosting, frosted flakes, honey, lots of sweet vanilla cream. It has a rich suppleness to its aromas, really creamy, as well as sporting some gentle notes of green fruits of gooseberries and pears.

Taste: Nice punchiness here, before it settles in to vanillic sweetness. It's brighter yet still has a good richness to it. Lots of that vanilla cream, topped off with some pepper. Oranges waft about the body. The vanilla here is incredibly expressive and vibrant, coloured in with those orange citrusy tones.

Finish: Smoked vanilla cream, vanilla frosting, there's also some sweet and more concentrated plum preserves at the back. Sweet oat porridge as well, along with some more on leather and prunes. 

My Thoughts 

This was a more straightforward and simple yet enjoyable whisky - it focuses on being much more vanillic with tones of orange, leaning sweeter, and yet has a good richness as well. There's some added complexity coming through on the finish with some Sherry character as well. What impressed me most here is how simple it was and yet was so expressive, with the vanilla notes on the palate incredibly supple and vibrant, perhaps as naturalistic as a spread of vanilla cream itself!