KUJIRA RYUKYU SINGLE GRAIN WHISKEY 10 YEAR OLD 70CL/43%

Kujira Japanese Single Grain Whiskey Cask Limited is made on the Japanese island of Okinawa located south from Japan to Thailand.

It is a warm climate and home to Awamori, a traditional distilled rice spirit unique to the region.

Awamori is believed to be the predecessor to Shochu, the most popular fermented and distilled product manufactured in many parts of Japan.

Like Shochu, they are both made from rice, although Awamori is made from long-grain indica rice from Thailand, and black Koji (mold grown on rice) is used during fermentation to convert starches into sugars for help yeast.

Awamori is barely aged and is bottled between 30% and 43% alcohol.

The Kumesen Shuzo Distillery was founded in 1952 and its main product is Awamori.

However, in 1989, the distillery began experimenting with aging Awamori in American bourbon barrels.

For those, ex-bourbon barrels were cheap, as bourbon sales were in the midst of a slump, consumption dropping sharply by the 1980s and 1990s.

Kujira Japanese Single Grain Whiskey Cask Limited is a rice whiskey. This whiskey tells an incredible story.

On the nose, it has a mystical aroma, with some sweetness and malty notes. The only signs of age are the notes of red apple.

In the mouth, it awakens the palate with notes of ginger and spices, but in later sips, you will obtain notes of dark chocolate and cinnamon and lemon caramel.

Layers of soft caramel and buttery notes are a great base for all those spices. It is a marvel of whiskey. It is made of rice.

These last two points are likely to attract more attention, but the result is so complex and incredible that you have to discover the interior, it is excellent!

The Kujira Whiskey range is elegant, distinctive and very very limited. The editions of this whiskey are very small, only a few units arrive each year in Europe, which makes tasting it, become something unique.