Prices
Prices and stock come from each retailer's website. Check with the store before you buy.
More from this distillery: All Akashi (Eigashima) whiskies and prices
About
What it is
A six year old single malt from Eigashima in Hyogo, matured in ex-white wine casks and bottled at 50%. It sits alongside a four year old version in the same wood, which makes the pair one of the clearer age comparisons in the Akashi range.
Where it comes from
Eigashima holds one of the oldest whisky licences in Japan, from 1919, though it only released a single malt in 2007 and produces whisky for a short window each year around its sake and shochu work. The malted barley is imported, which is standard practice and doesn't affect compliance, since the Japan Spirits and Liqueurs Makers Association standard is about where the whisky is made rather than where the grain grew.
Eigashima also bottles blends containing whisky it didn't distil, so compliance isn't automatic from the brand, and no producer statement has surfaced for this particular release.
How it's made
The distillery is small and coastal, on the Seto Inland Sea at Akashi, and the humid summers push maturation faster than the number of years implies. The malt is lightly peated. White wine casks carry little residual sugar and less tannin than red wine or sherry wood, so they add acidity, florals and a waxy texture rather than colour and weight. Six years is enough for the spirit and the wood to meet properly, which four often isn't.
What to expect
Citrus, pear and white flowers with a honeyed weight the younger version lacks, then a waxy, savoury middle and light smoke on the finish. Still bright, but rounder and better integrated.
How it compares
Against the 4 year old in the same casks, this is the better whisky and the comparison is instructive if you can get both. Against the red wine cask releases, those bring fruit and tannin where this brings acidity. Against the bourbon cask bottlings, those are the sweeter, more familiar option.
