This is Edition #2 of Kanosuke's Artist Series, which is inspired by the Japanese Five Elements Philosophy as a holistic way of life, and from the label it's pretty intuitive that this represents the element of Fire.

The other elements are Wood (Edition #1 of the Artist Series), Earth, Gold and Water.

Photographer Yuna Yagi.

The label was designed by photographer Yuna Yagi. It was created by photographing a large piece of driftwood drifting by the coast and subsequently reprinting it multiple times.

The whisky inside is a 2019 non-peated Kanosuke, aged for over 3 years using PX Sherry barrels, matured at the Tadazu aging warehouse that is on a small hill on the north side of Kanosuke Distillery.

Kanosuke Artist Edition #002 - Review

Tasting Notes

Color: Mahogany

Aroma: Surprisingly mellowed (given the intense colour) - walnut oil, leather, raisins, dates, sultanas. A light umami-nuttiness. More on tobacco leaves, autumnal dried leaves, old wood, coffee, and also light hints of orange zest.

Taste: Deep, intensely rich and dark notes of raisins and prunes, slightly savoury and nutty. There’s a little bit of that grittiness of coffee grounds. 

Finish: A long finish, with more bitterness from coffee, dark chocolates, walnuts, and concentrated sherry sweetness.

My Thoughts

My Rating: 🌊

Overwhelming.

This is very heavily Sherried - which is as good as saying that the sky’s blue - but that really does translate to how it tastes, that is, extremely overwhelming sherried notes that unfortunately seem to suppress Kanosuke’s signature profile that’s a lot more mellow and bright.

While not being sulphuric (at least not overly so), it seems to have shortened the flavours on the palate into a really narrow profile, while also thinning its texture and giving it quite a bit more astringency than we’re used to with Kanosuke.

This was too over the top, and it kind of felt that the folks at Kanosuke went alittle too hard and got too excited with the Sherry cask here.

Can’t say I enjoyed this unfortunately. :(

Kanpai!

@111hotpot