Kanosuke Hioki Pot Still Single Grain Whisky
Distilled at Hioki Distillery and matured at Kanosuke Distillery — both operated by Komasa Jozo in Kagoshima — this single grain whisky tells the story of where Kanosuke itself began. Before there was a Kanosuke Distillery, there was Hioki, long used for the family's shochu production, including their pioneering aged rice shochu "Mellowed Kozuru." Made from a mash of unmalted and malted barley, it draws directly on Irish pot still whiskey tradition — the combination of malted and unmalted grain distilled in a pot still is the same technique behind whiskies like Redbreast, giving it a similarly fruity character and viscous mouthfeel. But the distillation itself uses techniques refined through shochu-making: reduced-pressure (vacuum) distillation in a single-stage stainless steel still, which keeps the distillation rate low and preserves more of the raw ingredient's character than a typical continuous grain still would. After distillation, the spirit matures in new American white oak puncheons and ex-bourbon barrels for a minimum of three years, with the larger puncheon size (roughly 450 liters, versus the standard 200-liter barrel) chosen specifically to slow maturation in Hioki's fast-aging climate. The result is aromatic and rich: freshly hewn wood, stone fruit, and citrus give way to vanilla, orange marmalade, and almond, finishing with a lingering spicy-sweet candied ginger note. Originally created purely as a blending component for Kanosuke Double Distillery, it earned such praise on its own that it was released as a standalone product in December 2023. Bottled at 51% ABV.
ABOUT THE ORIGIN
Hioki Pot Still exists because of a question master distiller Yoshitsugu Komasa asked himself: could a shochu distillery and a whisky distillery find common ground? His answer drew on techniques he studied firsthand in Ireland and America — Irish pot still mashbills and bourbon-style new oak maturation — fused with generations of Komasa Jozo's own shochu-distilling expertise, resulting in a genuinely hybrid spirit unlike anything else in Japanese whisky.
STYLE: SINGLE GRAIN JAPANESE WHISKY (POT STILL)
MASH BILL: UNPEATED MALTED BARLEY (~90%) AND UNMALTED BARLEY (~10%)
DISTILLATION: REDUCED-PRESSURE (VACUUM) DISTILLATION, SINGLE-STAGE STAINLESS STEEL POT STILL
CASK: NEW AMERICAN WHITE OAK PUNCHEONS AND EX-BOURBON BARRELS, MINIMUM 3 YEARS
SPECIAL NOTES: ORIGINALLY DEVELOPED AS A BLENDING COMPONENT FOR KANOSUKE DOUBLE DISTILLERY; RELEASED STANDALONE IN DECEMBER 2023; NO ADDED COLORING
