Meet the Maker: Kanosuke

Last month we rebooted Speciality Sessions with a bang! After an advanced seminar on the category of Japanese whisky we treated attendees to a quiz. And with the prize being a trip to Japan with Kanosuke whisky, the stakes couldn’t have been higher. Our participants amazed us with how hard they’d studied and sure enough, we ended up with a brutal tie-breaker. One winner emerged victorious: here he is, the lovely Cameron Wilson-Webb!

Cameron will be heading to the south of Japan to Kyushu island, where he’ll be whisked to the Mellow Coast of Kagoshima, so nicknamed for its warm summers and gorgeous sunsets, where he'll visit Kanosuke Distillery where he'll be able to learn all about this incredible new-wave whisky from Japan.

 

Kanosuke describe themselves as ‘next-generation distillers from Kagoshima’s Mellow Coast’ and it’s a fitting tag line that references their distilling lineage. Kanosuke is named after the grandfather of the founder, and honours his work as an innovator in shochu production, as well as realising their grandfather’s dream to build a distillery on the site opposite Hioki, the family’s shochu distillery. In Japanese Hioki means ‘picturesque place where the sun sets’, and when you visit Kanosuke it’s easy to see why – the tasting room overlooks the ocean and is flooded with golden light as the sun sets on the horizon.

In founding Kanosuke distillery, Yoshitsugu Komasa travelled extensively in order to gather as much knowledge on whisky as he could. His goal was not to copy another style or distillery, but rather add a new chapter to Japanese whisky, and to create a truly innovative whisky - something his grandfather would be proud of. And with Kanosuke having won an array of glittering awards, they can most certainly be proud!

 

 

We caught up with the founder Yoshitsugu Komasa, to learn all about one of the most unique whisky distilleries on Earth.

 

Q: Hello Komasa san! So can you tell us a little of the history behind Kanosuke?

 

My family started distilling shochu in 1883. My grandfather was inspired by whisky to introduce the first cask matured shochu in Japan, and we have since brought many innovative ideas to shochu production that have never been seen before such as flavoured shochu, and non-alcoholic shochu. Now we have come full circle with the making of our whisky, which in turn is inspired by many aspects of our shochu production.

 

Q: Does that maverick approach of doing things differently translate to your whisky making with Kanosuke?

 

Yes it does! And we are applying the approach and the experience we have gained through shochu production to whisky production. Having already a lot of experience in working with cereals meant that these were things we already knew about. Having had much experience with our seven shochu stills meant that we had a lot of knowledge we could transfer for the distillation. We have been using American white oak for many decades in shochu production, so could integrate this understanding. It was a relatively smooth transition!

 

Q: So let’s start at the beginning of production, with the cereal. Tell us a little about the malt that you use at Kanosuke…

 

We use non-peated malt, and a small amount of peated malt. Around 90% is imported, mainly from Scotland, and around 10% is Japanese barley. I always had an admiration for Scotch whisky, but we aren’t trying to make a Scotch. Instead we try to honour our history of shochu production while creating a whisky that is respectful of all that has come before us in Japanese whisky, but with some additional innovation.

 

Q: Water quality and composition is considered important to the production of whisky. Can you talk us through the water, and the fermentation?

 

The water we use at Kanosuke is spring water from the local area. It is very soft water and plays a sufficient role in the preparation of the whisky. It has a positive effect on the growth of yeast, and lactic acid bacteria. The fermentation period is from 96 – 120 hours. We use both distillery yeast and ale yeast, and will choose the proportion depending on the profile we are trying to achieve. We monitor the clarity of our wort to ensure it is clear, which encourages a fruity distillate. We keep a little of each ferment and add it to the newer fermentations to encourage both consistency and the continued propagation of the microbiology, almost like a sour mash technique. 

 

Q: You have three beautiful copper pot stills at Kanosuke. Triple pot systems are relatively unusual - how did you arrive at the decision to use a triple system?

 

Yes, to explain, the triple pot system can be used in different ways to get five types of spirit of different weights. We start with ferments at a strength of around 7-8%, and we then distill in different ways to get a truly diverse range of distillates. In addition to these we then also use our seven shochu stills at Hioki to produce pot still whisky for Kanosuke too.

 

 

Q: The climate in the south of Japan is very different than in the north, and while we have now several whisky distilleries in the south, it wasn’t common to see whisky made in the southern warmer climates. Can you talk us through how this impacts the maturation of your whisky?

 

Yes, so in the north of Japan the angels share is more similar to Scotland, at around 1-2% per year, whereas in Kagoshima where we are it is hot in the summer, but still can snow in winter. As we are by the sea, the climate swings can be 40C - enough to get 6 – 8% angels share per year. Our whisky matures three or four times faster than in a cooler climate because of the temperature cycles that we experience! We have eight warehouses in five locations. While the locations enjoy different climatic conditions, we also use different warehouse designs in racking the whisky, which means we can get varied maturation profiles through changes in temperature and humidity.

 

Q: Let’s talk about your vacuum stills, because it’s something very rare to use these for whisky making, and yet quite common in the production of shochu!

 

There are very few whiskies that use vacuum stills, but we wanted to make a pot still whisky that uses them. We use mostly polished unmalted barley which is steamed before mashing with a small amount of malted barley. By using vacuum distillation we can lower the temperature of the distilling process, which produces volatile components. Compounds with a high boiling point are not collected, which means a distillate that is clean, but with a cereal flavour and taste. Whether a defined approach to maturation is needed is still unknown, but we mainly use new oak for our vacuum distilled spirit, and so far we find it is working well! 

 

Q: At our Speciality Session we chose to use the Kanosuke Double Distillery – a 50/50 blend of your malt whisky and the vacuum distilled whisky from your shochu distillery Hioki. Can you talk to us about what each distillery is bringing to the whisky?

 

We wanted to make a spirit that made the most of the best of malt whisky, and pot still whisky. We use many casks for the Double Distillery: for the malt we use seven different cask types. Five for the single malt, which are ex-bourbon casks, ex-shochu casks, ex-sherry casks, ex-red wine, and small amount of our peated whisky in ex-bourbon. For the pot still we use ex-bourbon casks, as well as 450l new oak casks made here in Japan. All these casks come together to give some lovely aromas of vanilla, mint, stonefruits, lemongrass, Japanese cinnamon, orange peel.

 

Kanosuke’s whiskies are beautiful neat or over ice, but you can’t beat the classics - we love it in a simple highball or Old Fashioned. Ask your Speciality Drinks account manager for a sample or for more info.