Prices
Prices and stock come from each retailer's website. Check with the store before you buy.
More from this distillery: All Nagahama whiskies and prices
About
What it is
Nagahama's first vatted single malt, released in 2022 at around five years old. Until this, the distillery had only released single casks. It was sold by lottery in Japan and is the bottle that marked Nagahama's shift from blending experiments to a whisky programme of its own.
Where it comes from
Nagahama Distillery in Shiga, opened in 2016 on the site of the Nagahama Roman Beer brewery beside Lake Biwa. This is the distillery's own spirit, distilled and matured on site, unlike the Amahagan range which openly uses imported malt. We haven't found a formal producer statement against the Japan Spirits and Liqueurs Makers Association standard, but the single malts and the world malts are clearly separate lines.
How it's made
Master blender Yusuke Yahisa selected four cask types from spirit distilled between 2017 and 2019: ex-bourbon as the frame, plus sherry, an Islay quarter cask and mizunara. The distillery calls its approach one brew, one cask. Nagahama runs the smallest stills in Japan, with very short lyne arms producing a thick, malty new make, and the blending technique came directly out of the practice they'd been getting on the Amahagan range.
What to expect
Ripe apple and persimmon on the nose with vanilla, coconut and caramel, then dried apricot and grape, finishing with a light tannic bitterness from the wood. It's malty and mellow rather than complex, which is fair at five years, and the Islay quarter cask adds a faint smokiness that stops it being one note.
How it compares
Against the Amahagan World Malt editions from the same distillery, this is the pure Nagahama article and the reason the Amahagan project existed in the first place. Against the distillery's single cask releases, this is the vatted, more consistent version. Second and third batch releases followed, each with its own cask makeup, so check which one you're buying.
