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 core single malt from Kanosuke, released in January 2023 and bottled at 48% rather than cask strength. Unpeated malt, vatted from multiple casks, with the distillery's re-charred rice shochu casks as the key component. Non-chill filtered. The Mellow in the name comes from the distillery's guiding phrase, Mellow Land Mellow Whisky, and retailers apply it inconsistently, so you may see it listed simply as Kanosuke Single Malt.
Where it comes from
Kanosuke Distillery, built in 2017 on Fukiage beach in Kagoshima by Komasa Jyozo, a long established shochu producer. Single malt distilled and matured entirely on site with no imported component. Kanosuke publishes per-product detail on its own site.
How it's made
Komasa Jyozo pioneered cask-aged rice shochu with a product called Mellowed Kozuru, and Kanosuke re-chars those American white oak casks and fills them with whisky. Company president Yoshitsugu Komasa has described the re-charred shochu casks as behaving closer to virgin oak, which is why the whisky reads far older than its years. Ex-bourbon and sherry casks fill out the vatting. All three copper pot stills are used.
What to expect
Banana, lemon cake and Japanese confectionery on the nose, then a fuller palate with vanilla, oak spice and the woody, almost lumber-like note the shochu casks give. At 48% it's more approachable than the cask strength editions without losing the distillery character.
How it compares
Against the annual limited editions at 57 to 59%, this is the everyday version and the one designed to be consistent rather than distinctive. Against the Double Distillery blend, that brings in Hioki pot still whisky and is broader. Against the Sherry Casks Vatted release at the same strength, that one swaps the emphasis from shochu wood to sherry.
