Prices
- Paul's Liquor · 500ml
Usually $59.99$54.99In stockLowest priceView at Paul's Liquor - Barrel & Batch · 500ml, Each$59.99In stockView at Barrel & Batch
- Nick's Wine Merchants · 500ml$59.99In stockView at Nick's Wine Merchants
- The Whisky Company · 500ml$65.00In stockView at The Whisky Company
- Bottle Stop · 500ml, Each$71.99In stockView at Bottle Stop
- Kent Street Cellars · 500ml
Usually $64.99$57.99Sold outView at Kent Street Cellars
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
An entry level blended whisky from Eigashima, the Hyogo distillery that trades as White Oak and sells under the Akashi name. Bottled at 40%, no age statement, and the least expensive thing the company makes.
Where it comes from
Eigashima holds one of Japan's oldest whisky licences, granted in 1919, but the blends are where care is needed. The company doesn't publish component breakdowns and has drawn on whisky it didn't distil.
There's a well documented quirk in this part of the range worth knowing: the basic White Oak bottling sold in the Japanese domestic market has been made with malt whisky and molasses spirit, which would not qualify as whisky in the EU, while the export version uses malt and grain. That tells you how loosely constructed this tier has historically been. No producer statement putting Akashi Red against the Japan Spirits and Liqueurs Makers Association standard has surfaced, so treat the provenance as undisclosed.
How it's made
Eigashima's own malt is lightly peated and distilled in a short window each year around the company's sake and shochu production. Maturation for the cheaper blends is typically ex-bourbon with limited time in wood. Cask detail for this bottling isn't published.
What to expect
Light, sweet and simple. Grain sweetness, a little vanilla, a short finish. At this price and strength it's a mixer and nothing more, and it does that job without embarrassing itself.
How it compares
Against Akashi Blue Label, that gets shochu cask maturation and sherry and bourbon finishing, so there's considerably more to it. Against Akashi Meisei, another blend at the same tier. Against the Akashi single malts, those are distilled on site and clearly specified, and they're where this producer is actually worth your money.
