What is Japanese whiskey made by Kagoshima’s long-established shochu brewery?
Kagoshima Whiskey in the land where Kanosuke II dreamed of the world.
The first new distillery in Kagoshima, a major shochu production area, was the Kanosuke Distillery, started in 2017 by Komasa Jozo of Meroko Crane. The 9,000 m2 plot of land along Fukiage beach on the west coast of Kagoshima Prefecture was the site of the postwar dream of the second generation Kanosuke Komasa to deliver high value-added shochu from this area.
The spirit of challenge to create new concepts and markets has been passed down from generation to generation. We have been promoting shochu overseas, but it has been difficult for it to penetrate the market. At that time, we thought it would be a good idea to convey the background of shochu through whiskey, the common language of the world,” said Yoshitsugu Komasa, President and CEO.
Mr. Komasa’s focus was on the distillation technology that produces a wide variety of sake. Each shochu distillery has its own unique distillation system to produce its own unique sake quality. Inspired by this, he installed three different pot stills, a rarity in micro-distilleries.
Our goal is to produce a wide variety of sake. We have two distillers that can be used as first distillation boiler and one redistiller, and we also distill three times with three distillers. The variation of sake from the three distillers, combined with the raw materials and multiple barrels, allows for a richer expression.
The company’s identity is also reflected in its barrels. Alongside the bourbon and sherry casks are barrels of “Mellow Kozuru,” a long barrel-aged rice shochu made by Kanosuke 2nd generation.
The fla osuke is rich and sweet, but softly fragrant with gentle sweetness derived from rice shochu barrels, as well as Japanese tastes such as hacca and plum wine,” says director Shunichi Nakamura.
I feel that we have opened the door to the world. I would like to make shochu a common language in the world along with whiskey someday,” says Komasa.
