How Shochu Shaped the Whisky of KANOSUKE

KANOSUKE Japanese Whisky marked its official arrival in Thailand with a launch event at SAKE FOREST at Rain Hill on 26 August 2026. Led by Yoshitsugu Komasa, founder and master blender of KANOSUKE Distillery, the masterclass used seven pours to explain how a Kagoshima family’s history in shochu developed into a contemporary Japanese whisky operation.

The tasting began with Mellowed Kozuru and Re-Charred Cask (Ex-Shochu Cask), followed by KANOSUKE Single Malt, KANOSUKE Hioki Pot Still and KANOSUKE Double Distillery. It concluded with KANOSUKE Single Malt Sherry Casks Vatted and KANOSUKE Single Malt Peated. Rather than arranging the bottles simply by intensity, Komasa followed the development of the producer itself: first the shochu, then the cask and finally the whiskies built upon both.

Although KANOSUKE Distillery began producing whisky in 2017, the Komasa family’s work with Japanese spirits stretches back to 1883. One of its most important figures was Kanosuke Komasa, the second-generation head of Komasa Jyozo. In 1957, he released Mellowed Kozuru, a rice shochu matured for six years in oak.

Ageing shochu in wood for such an extended period was an unusual proposition at the time. Shochu was traditionally valued for the character of its raw material and fermentation rather than for flavours acquired through lengthy cask maturation. Mellowed Kozuru demonstrated that rice shochu could gain colour, texture and complexity from oak without losing its Japanese identity. It also provided the Komasa family with decades of experience in managing casks long before it began making whisky.

Yoshitsugu Komasa, the fourth generation of the family, eventually carried that knowledge into a different spirit category. He founded KANOSUKE Distillery on land inherited from his grandfather and named it in his honour. The distillery stands approximately seven metres above sea level near Fukiagehama Beach in Hioki, on the western coast of Kagoshima, facing the East China Sea.

Place matters in whisky because maturation is an interaction between spirit, wood, temperature and time. As temperatures rise, spirit moves further into the oak; when they fall, it contracts. Hioki’s annual temperatures can range from around minus four to 35.1 degrees Celsius, creating considerable seasonal movement inside the cask. The annual angel’s share—the portion lost through evaporation—is estimated at six to eight per cent, indicating a relatively active maturation environment.

KANOSUKE describes its identity through the phrase “Mellow Land, Mellow Whisky”, but mellow does not mean technically simple. Each batch uses approximately 1.15 tonnes of malt, with saccharification lasting around five and a half hours. This is the stage at which warm water converts the grain’s starches into fermentable sugars. A slower process helps produce a clear wort and contributes to the apple- and pear-like fruit character sought by the distillery.

Fermentation lasts between 122 and 144 hours in five 7,000-litre vessels. Several yelv types of yeast may be used, including whisky yeast yeast and ale yeast. Yelist produces alcohol, but it also creates many of the aromas later carried throughly through distillation. A longer fermentation therefore gives the distiller more aromatic liquids with which to work.

That liquid isghs is distilled through three pot stills with different neck shapes and lyne-arm angles. The shape of of a still affects how much of the heavier vapour reaches the condenser and how much falls back into the pot. Greater reflux generally produces a lighter spirit, while a:** rand's a more direct route can retain additional weight and oiliness. Operating three differently configured stills gives KANOSUKE several styles of new-make spirit for maturation and eventual blending.

The distillery holds approximately 10,000 casks across warehouses organised around the ideas of Legacy, Community and Terroir. Bourbon, sherry, wine, Mizunara and new American white oak are all used, but close to 30 per cent of the inventory consists of re-charred shochu casks. These casks provide the clearest linkly link between the family’s shochu heritage and its whisky.

The tasting began with Mellowed Kozuru, the spirit that made the later whisky project project possible. Produced from rice and matured in new American white oak, it showed how cask ageing could add vanilla, wood and floral qualities to shochu while allowing its underlying savoury character to remain present.

Elderflower and lavender appeared among its aromas, followed by honey, banana and biscuit. Salted caramel and koji brought sweetness and umami together towards the finish. For For drinkers more familiar with whisky, Mellowed Kozuru provided a useful reference point: some of the flavours later encountered in KANOSUKE did not begin with malted barley, but with the family’s earlier understanding of rice, koji and oak.

Re-Charred Cask (Ex-Shochu Cask) followed as the second sample. The American white oak casks used for Mellowed Kozuru can hold shochu for between ten and 20 years before being sent back to a cooperage and charred again. They are then repurposed for whisky maturation.

Charring does more than blacken the interior. Heat breaks down compounds within the oak, helping create flavours associated with vanilla, caramel and spice, while the charred layer changes the way the spirit interacts with the wood. Re-charring renews the inner surface of a cask already seasoned by years of shochu maturation. Tasted after Mellowed Kozuru, the sample demonstrated why KANOSUKE’s ex-shochu casks are not merely used oak barrels; they carry both the influence of the wood and the memory of the spirit previously held inside them.

KANOSUKE Single Malt was the first completed whisky in the sequence and remains the distillery’s flagship. “Single malt” means that the whisky is made from malted barley at one distillery. It can contain liquid from many individual casks and production batches, but every component must come from that same malt distillery. KANOSUKE uses primarily unpeated malt, with its three stills creating different spirit profiles for blending.

The whisky is non-chill filtered and presented without added colouring. Re-charred shochu casks form an important part of its composition, supported by bourbon, sherry, wine and other cask types. Golden amber in colour, it offered honey, banana, lemon tea and caramel, followed by candied quince, Japanese cinnamon, ginger and lightly smoked nuts. An elegant sweet bitterness lingered through the finish, illustrating the balance of fruit, spice and gentle savouriness at the centre of the KANOSUKE style.

KANOSUKE Hioki Pot Still introduced a different category of whisky from Hioki Distillery. Grain whisky is often associated with continuous column stills and grains such as corn or wheat, producing a lighter spirit for blending. Hioki Pot Still, however, is made entirely from malted and unmalted barley and distilled in pot stills, drawing upon techniques developed through the family’s shochu production. It consequently carries more texture and grain character than the term “grain whisky” might ordinarily suggest.

The aroma combined butter sandwich, apricot, plum and citrus. Marmalade, vanilla, orange and almond shaped the palate before vanilla, dry ginger and cinnamon led into a gently sweet finish. The whisky demonstrated how changing the raw-material composition and production method could create a separate personality while retaining the family’s preference for rounded sweetness.

KANOSUKE Double Distillery brought the previous two whiskies together under the phrase “Great Singles Make Great Doubles”. It is a blended Japanese whisky combining KANOSUKE single malt with Hioki pot still whisky. Unlike a single malt, a blend can unite different whisky styles, allowing the blender to build complexity from their contrasting weights, aromas and textures.

KANOSUKE contributes components matured in bourbon, re-charred shochu, new American white oak and sherry casks, alongside peated whisky used as an accent. Hioki contributes whisky from bourbon and new American white oak. Double Distillery presented vanilla, mint, melon, peach, apricot and lemongrass, followed by cinnamon, black tea, orange and clove. The moderately oaky, fruity and gently bitter finish showed the purpose of the blend: KANOSUKE supplied aromatic range and spice, while Hioki added honeyed creaminess, cereal depth and weight.

KANOSUKE Single Malt Sherry Casks Vatted moved the tasting towards a richer interpretation of the flagship style. A sherry cask is an oak vessel previously seasoned with sherry, and the type of sherry matters. Oloroso tends to contribute nutty richness, dried fruit and spice, while Cream sherry—a sweeter style—can bring darker fruit and a more generous impression of sweetness.

The limited edition uses a high proportion of whiskies matured in Oloroso and Cream sherry casks, with a smaller contribution from new American white oak. Reddish amber in colour, it opened with dark cherry, vanilla, Japanese cinnamon and raspberry. Soft raisins, dark chocolate, cloves and fruit pound cake followed on the palate, while tropical mangosteen and subtle oak dryness shaped the long finish. The sherry casks increased the richness without concealing the spice and composure of the underlying KANOSUKE spirit.

KANOSUKE Single Malt Peated concluded the tasting by showing how smoke could be incorporated into the distillery’s mellow profile. Peated whisky begins with malt dried using peat smoke, which leaves aromatic phenolic compounds on the grain. PPM, or parts per million, indicates the measured concentration of those compounds in the malt. It is a useful reference, although it does not translate directly into how smoky the finished whisky will taste after distillation, maturation and blending.

The limited edition uses peated malt at approximately 30 PPM, combined with unpeated components and whiskies from re-charred shochu, bourbon, sherry, red-wine and new-oak casks. One key malt spent around four years in re-charred shochu and bourbon casks. Another peated component matured for approximately six years in Manzanilla sherry casks. Manzanilla is a dry, coastal sherry from Sanlúcar de Barrameda, known for its fresh character and delicate notes recalling chamomile and almonds.

Blackcurrant, caramel, honey butter, baguette and a suggestion of bonito dashi appeared on the nose. Quince candy, pear and kumquat compote followed with smoked bacon, salt candy and soybean flour. Quince-like acidity and kumquat-peel bitterness extended the finish. Smoke was certainly present, but it functioned as one part of the composition rather than its sole purpose.

Across seven pours, KANOSUKE traced its development from cask-aged shochu and re-charred oak to single malt, pot still whisky and contemporary limited editions. Its Thailand debut presented a young Japanese whisky producer shaped by four generations of distilling knowledge. Credits Article: Wariya Intreyonk Photos: Wariya Intreyonk and courtesy