In a world of exotic cask finishes, it might be somewhat surprising to find that only a very small handful of distilleries have put out an IPA cask matured or finished whisky - perhaps even alittle more brow raising is the tidbit that the overwhelming majority of which have come from either Japan or Ireland. So why is that?
Well, let's find out about it together!
IPA's have led the craft beer revolution into the 2000's!
An immediately intuitive first guess is that its overall rarity is likely to do with the difficulty with working with IPA casks itself, which casts a spotlight on the practice of coopering in producing casks and barrels, a rather under discussed aspect of whiskymaking in and of itself. Assuming that a type of cask is legally permitted, the reality of the matter is that as much as distilleries know full well that exotic cask finishes might get the fans going, not everything can be made into casks, and even if possible, there's always a big question of scale and risks. Casks that are porous or simply difficult to obtain may only number in the double or even single digits and thus simply yields too little an output to properly produce an offering that can justify its inaccessibility or meet the demand that an exciting release ought to achieve in mileage. Furthermore, a finicky cask also poses a serious risk when it comes to ageing whiskies in it over the span of the years needed for it to sufficiently influence the whisky - the worst and also most likely outcome is that the cask breaks and the distillery is left with nothing after all of that work!
Hops are especially a big factor when it comes to IPA's with different hop varieties known for imparting flavours that range from tropical fruits to vegetal muskiness.
As it turns out, this is thoroughly applicable when it comes to IPA casks. The most obvious issue with IPA is that most commercially produced IPA beers are brewed, conditioned and stored in stainless steel tanks in order to preserve the precious freshness of the delicate (and costly!) hop flowers that are used to produce the IPA. And so only a very tiny fraction of IPA is deliberately aged in casks (as compared to say stouts), which means that more often than not whisky distilleries are having to arrange a specific situation where it's sending over a barrel which the brewery is then requested to age its IPA's in, which is thereafter sent back to the distillery for filling with whiskies. As much of a logistical hurdle as that already is, IPA's in general don't tend to leave a whole lot of residual liquids and sugars in their casks. Beers are in fact predominantly water in composition (that's a great excuse if you ever needed one!) and thus doesn't quite soak through the wood, enough for a tangible influence on the whiskies that are filled in thereafter. It's for this reason that you're more likely to find barrels the likes of higher proof Bourbon, Rums or even Cognac, or higher residual sugars in the form of Sherry, Port, or other fortified wines - all of which are also for the matter already naturally aged in barrels as part of their production process. This means that by and large IPA's don't typically produce strong cask interactions for their subsequent whiskies, which then leads to the final hurdle which is that in order to produce a sufficiently strong cask interaction, breweries typically have to fill in stronger beers such as Double or Triple IPA's, which then runs the risk of creating an overly bitter, sharp or harsh whisky as a result of the more intense hoppiness that's applied. This therefore makes IPA casks really tricky to work with, where distilleries tend to either under or over finish the whiskies, with really only a significantly short window for getting the finished whisky's profile exactly right. It's for this reason that there's no IPA cask aged whiskies, with the only variants being IPA finishes.
Craft beer is big in Japan!
So given that we now understand why IPA casks are rare when it comes to whiskies, what then explains its relative prevalence in Japan and Ireland? Well, just to get right to the elephant-sized hop in the room, IPA cask finishes have been alittle too much of a gamble for Scotch distilleries even with the UK being one of the largest consumers of craft beers in the world - up until 2019, IPA casks stood in a grey area with the wording around beer cask specifics remaining rather vague even if the broad category was technically legal. The USA, being the definite world's largest consumer and producer of IPA's, too held off on it for regulatory reasons that too technically allowed for it although when filing with the tax system, had required producers to classify such whiskies under the blackhole of a category that is "Whiskey Specialties" instead of the widely understood "Straight Bourbon" as a result of pure Bourbon having touched a secondary barrel that contained trace amounts of liquid that was considered a flavouring agent. And as for Japan and Ireland, well, the craft beer boom that both countries enjoyed, along with more generous rules on the country's whiskies, meant that IPA casks not only abounded but was widely available for cross-category collaborations that were often a huge hit with local fans! Malt-on-malt, what's there not to like! And thus we call this mystery solved!
Now with that said, we turn finally to Japan's cult followed Kanosuke Distillery who has released a limited IPA Cask Finished Single Malt Japanese Whisky. This small batch - which we now know why that's the case! - was made by finishing the distillery's signature ex-Shochu Re-charred cask whiskies in two particular types of Double IPA (DIPA) casks - which we also can now appreciate! - one being a light style and the other a heavy style which was then blended together.
Let's get to tasting it!
Whisky Review: Kanosuke IPA Cask Finish Single Malt Japanese Whisky, 48% ABV
Tasting Notes
Colour: Deep Gold
Aroma: It’s immediately peachy, closely intertwined with citruses, of vine peaches and grapefruits, alongside more exotic fruits of pineapples and pink guavas, and also some apricots. It’s vibrant and expressive, with almost a fruit yogurt candy rings quality to it. It’s then backed up by a richness of brown sugar, creme brûlée and caramel custard that lends a supple creaminess to the base. More on maltose and honey that wraps it all together, with some garnishes of lime leaves and a rackhouse mustiness. It’s incredibly fragrant, with a bright exotic fruitiness cusped by the classic Kanosuke caramel custard richness. Yet so impressively unmistakably Kanosuke.
Taste: Medium-bodied, it’s luscious and rich, with also an oily waxiness. Those exotic fruits come through again, here more so on lychees and rose petals. There’s also grapefruits, peaches and pineapples, with also fragrant, slightly musky and botanical hop flowers too. Slight IPA bitterness that flashes through. Again backed up by that classic Kanosuke signature of caramel custard, brown sugars and creme brûlée giving it that confectionary warmth, richness and depth. Some undertones of leather, tobacco and dark chocolate too, with a slight walnut nuttiness.
Finish: Alitte more medicinal here, with a slightly herbal bitterness of angelica roots and burnt mint leaves, as well as some savouriness of burnt brown sugar, still with that undercurrent of custard. It still pops rather vibrantly with that burst of peaches, grapefruits and pineapples, with that slick of IPA bright bitterness. Oily and rich finish, with all of that brown sugar warmth. A long lingering of those bright exotic fruits once again, with then a mix of rose petals and medicinal angelica roots.
My Thoughts
A really excellent execution of an IPA cask finished whisky! This was perfectly timed to give all those exotic IPA fruits of peaches, grapefruits, pineapples, guavas and apricots, totally vibrant and singing on the nose, with then this great integration with the signature Kanosuke brown sugar, creme brulee and caramel custard. Super expressive on both the IPA cask and the ex-Shochu recharred barrel aged Kanosuke malt, with neither overpowering the other, and the hallmark IPA bitterness rendered mainly on the finish still showing lots of restraint and in fact giving the whisky a lovely contrast to the otherwise deep richness.
As discussed, the big fear with IPA casks is always that when done right - which is a rarity of a rarity, given how few IPA cask whiskies there are already - the whisky can be completely elevated to offer these beautifully evocative, exotic tropical fruits and musky florals that do wonders on the whisky, and yet if done poorly - which is not all that unusual given how finicky IPA casks are to work with - it's just going to give a sharp bitterness and wonky flavours that throw the whisky off. With Kanosuke's IPA Cask Finish, it's heartening to say that the distillery has done a magnificent job and whilst it's not totally clear if it's the ex-Shochu recharred cask that gives the whisky a fuller bodied base that holds up against the IPA cask, all we know is that this is super tasty and excellently integrated! A real unicorn in every sense of the word!
Kanpai!
@111hotpot
