Prices
Prices and stock come from each retailer's website. Check with the store before you buy.
More from this distillery: All Kanosuke whiskies and prices
About
What it is
The 2025 limited release of Kanosuke's Double Distillery blend, bottled at cask strength, 59%. Like the standard version it combines Kanosuke single malt with pot still whisky from Hioki, the sister distillery, both operated by the Komasa family in Kagoshima.
Where it comes from
Kanosuke states that the Double Distillery whiskies are made exclusively from two house-distilled spirits. Both distilleries are in Kagoshima, so everything in the bottle is Japanese with no sourced or imported component. That's a producer statement rather than a retailer claim, and it's the sort of thing worth checking for on any Japanese blend.
How it's made
Kanosuke distils lightly peated single malt through three copper pot stills. Hioki, the older of the two sites, runs stainless steel pot stills and works with a mix of malted and unmalted barley, which is why the producer calls this a blended whisky rather than a blended malt. Maturation runs across new American oak, sherry, ex-bourbon and the re-charred casks that previously held Mellowed Kozuru rice shochu. The 2025 release adds rum cask matured whisky to that mix, which is a new element for the range.
What to expect
Fuller and hotter than the 53% standard version. Expect vanilla, melon and apricot alongside clove, black tea and orange, with the shochu casks contributing their distinctive woody note and the rum casks adding sweetness. At 59% it needs water.
How it compares
Against the standard Double Distillery at 53%, this is the cask strength annual with an extra wood type in it. Against the Kanosuke single malts, those are pure Kanosuke where this brings Hioki's unmalted barley character in. Against other Japanese blends, the distinguishing fact here is that one family distils every component, which almost nobody else at this scale can say.
