Prices
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More from this distillery: All Akkeshi whiskies and prices
About
What it is
Taisho is the eighth release in Akkeshi's Twenty Four Solar Terms series, out in late August 2022. Taisho is the micro season marking the peak of summer, and the indigo label references the yukata worn at the Akkeshi summer festival. A blended whisky at 48%.
Where it comes from
Here's the part worth knowing. Akkeshi's single malts are distilled and matured entirely on site, but the blended releases in this series are built differently. Specialist sellers describe the Akkeshi blends as combining the distillery's own peated malt with imported grain whisky, matured at Akkeshi for at least three years before blending. If that's right for Taisho, it can't meet the Japan Spirits and Liqueurs Makers Association standard, which requires distillation in Japan.
We haven't found a statement from Akkeshi confirming it either way for this specific release, so treat it as likely but unconfirmed. What we'd say with confidence is this: don't assume the Akkeshi blends and the Akkeshi single malts have the same provenance story, because the evidence points the other way.
How it's made
The malt component is Akkeshi's own, peated using local Hokkaido peat and matured in Hokkaido mizunara casks, which is the signature of the whole range. Akkeshi has been distilling since 2016 using Forsyths pot stills on an Islay inspired setup, on a stretch of coast known for fog, sea air and peat bog.
What to expect
Lighter and more approachable than the single malts, which is generally what the grain does. Citrus up front, orange and hassaku lemon, then peat smoke, sea breeze and a savoury soy note, finishing with lemon zest and white pepper. The mizunara gives it an incense quality underneath.
How it compares
Against Akkeshi's single malt releases like Taisetsu, this is softer, cheaper and less intense, and it carries the provenance question they don't. Against Nikka's blends the comparison is instructive: Nikka publishes which of its products contain imported whisky, and most Japanese craft producers don't.
