This is a 5-year-old Akashi single malt from the White Oak distillery, matured in a first-fill bourbon barrel and bottled at 50% ABV. It is non-chill filtered, with no added colour.
About This Whisky
A first-fill bourbon barrel has held bourbon only once before, so it still has plenty of vanilla and sweet American oak to give. Five years in one on the warm Akashi coast brings baked apple, vanilla and sweet fruit to the fore. Bottling at 50% keeps the texture full, and the whisky clings to the glass, but it drinks more gently than the number suggests.
Tasting Profile
- Nose: Vanilla, baked apple and light malt, with a little citrus.
- Palate: Soft and sweet, with orchard fruit, honey and gentle American oak.
- Finish: Clean and medium length, with vanilla and light spice.
Serving & Food
Pour neat into a Glencairn, or make a highball with chilled soda and plenty of ice, the way much Japanese whisky is drunk at home. Pair with tamagoyaki, grilled scallops or a lemon tart.
How to Enjoy
Anyone starting out with Japanese single malt, and highball drinkers wanting something with more flavour.
Product Details
Distillery: Eigashima Shuzo (White Oak Distillery)
Brand: Akashi
Style: Japanese single malt whisky
Age Statement: 5 years
Cask: First-fill bourbon barrel
ABV: 50%
Volume: 500mL
Origin: Akashi, Hyogo, Japan
About the Distillery
The White Oak distillery took its present form in 1984, when Eigashima built a new still house on its seafront site. It installed two larger steam-heated pot stills, a 4,500-litre wash still and a 3,000-litre spirit still, which came from the closed Silver distillery in Nara.
The distillery has kept working on them since, fitting new downward-angled lyne arms in 2019 to capture more fruity esters. It uses malted barley imported from Scotland and the same underground water it uses for sake. As demand for Japanese whisky grew, whisky production was extended from a month or two to much of the year.