We're into Kanosuke's third flagship release. There were two in 2021, and then this one in 2022, the three of which have largely given representation to the main casks used by the distillery - ex-Shochu for the 2021 First Edition, American Oak (aka ex-Bourbon) for the 2021 Second Edition, and then Sherry casks for the 2022 Edition. 

To be specific, the releases have all used a blend of various cask types - however, each has focused a greater proportion of the specific casks listed above. So for example in the case of the 2022 Edition, it makes use of all the casks above but focuses on the Sherry casks as the key component.

And with that, fans have been kept well abreast of what to expect from the various Kanosuke styles that will eventually go into what will eventually be the distillery's core expression, which was announced into the end of 2022.

Although the distillery has three different pot stills, which allows it to produce several styles of whiskies, the distillery seems to prefer to blend all three styles for all its expressions, so the cask used seems to be the primary differentiator for Kanosuke.

Shortly after the 2022 Edition was released, the market exploded with many private owner's casks suddenly hitting bars and the market - a very Chichibu-esque style, which by the way is a strategy that works perfectly well in helping a distillery quickly achieve cult status amongst fans and spur the collecting frenzy.

That's at least helped Kanosuke to pull ahead of its peers in the recent wave of Japanese craft distilleries hitting the market with their own releases.

Kanosuke's parent's Mellowed Kozuru shochu is a real secret ingredient to Kanosuke's whiskies. (Image Source: Amazon JP)

Thus far, I will say that the hype is mostly justified - Kanosuke's whiskies really have been consistently impressive, each have been highly expressive of the distillery's signature style, and have also been quite unique in the spectrum of whisky flavors. Some have been particularly standout, whereas others have lacked just a tad bit - but more or less, you can't go wrong with Kanosuke.

That said, I will concede that if you're going to compare Kanosuke's whiskies to some of its significantly older Japanese brethren, I'd admit that Kanosuke still does display lots of youth - for good reason, it is rather young. That reasoning extends to any significantly more well-aged whiskies from anywhere in the world when compared to Kanosuke. So yes, in the grand scheme of things, the only thing that detracts from the hype is really its youth.

To put it plainly, you can find much more well-aged, complex, or tasty whiskies out there for far cheaper and more accessibly so.

However, my personal opinion is that Kanosuke is still my favorite Japanese whisky thus far, and I've still found it tasty and interesting enough to warrant forking out for its steep price tag in spite of its youth.

So, I like Kanosuke. Haters gonna hate, potatoes ahh you know the saying.

Let's just get right to it!

Kanosuke 2022 Limited Edition - Review

Tasting Notes 

Color: Deep Gold

Aroma: Immediately there's cinnamon rolls, brown sugar, raisins, figs, plums, rounder and rich, but still alittle punchy and quite bright. There's alittle bit of leather and cacao nibs as well, but they're kind of backseat here. There's a little squeaky touch of licorice and a very light lemon tea note.

Taste: Still quite punchy - fig jam, raisins, plums - quite jammy, with a good serving of cinnamon. Still quite abit of heat. More on honey, eucalyptus, there's this pronounced bit of Maraschino cherries. Little bit of espresso candy and cacao nibs. It's quite intense but keeps evolving and revealing quite abit of complexity.

Finish: More poached pears and apples, theres an intense red apple sweetness, and then more custard. There's a light grittiness of coffee grounds, mint leaves, and also apple juice. 

My Thoughts

My Rating: 🥊

This is very intense and still quite hot but it has nice flavors that open up along the way to reveal quite a fair bit of complexity. It gets sweeter and more fruity as it works its way to the finish, and stays very aromatic and very flavorful on the palate.

There's alot going on on the palate - in a good way, it's almost bourbon like, which is a switch up from the aromas which are very much classically Sherry-cask. The finish is where Kanosuke's signature style really comes out in full force with this really nice hit of apple juice.

Altogether a really impactful whisky that really shows that Kanosuke's a heavyweight contender and can pack so much intensity into a 3 year old whisky.

You can still pick one up at Master of Malt (International Shipping).

Kanpai!

@111hotpot