Japanese Whisk(e)y

[FrogPrincesse]

@mkayaharaI got it at Hi-Time, but there are other stores that carry it in Southern California. There is more info about it here, here, here, and here. Apparently it's not available in Japan! This was made as a trial run to test the American market

Edited February 3, 2017 by FrogPrincesse (log)

[tanstaafl2]

1 hour ago, mkayahara said:

Rice whisky? That's fascinating! Did you pick that up in the US, or somehow acquire it from Japan?

 

It has began showing up in a few places in the US in the last 6-12 months. I have seen it locally and I know K&L in San Francisco had it. The Fukano brand shown above and a brand called Kikori are the two I have seen. I don't know if it has a long history in Japan or is more of a result of the huge increase in interest in whisky in general in Japan. It is a bit different from Shochu, the more traditional distilled spirit that can be made from several different things to include rice, barley and sweet potato.

 

The sample I tasted was sweet as well but otherwise a bit light and to be honest, bland, so I didn't get a bottle. The blurb about the Fukano on K&L suggests it has been around awhile for use in blending but not bottled for sale as whisky until recently.

 

Ah, I see you had already responded with some nice links on the next page which I overlooked!

Edited February 3, 2017 by tanstaafl2 (log)

[mkayahara]

Thanks, both, for your replies. This hasn't turned up in my local liquor monopoly yet, so I guess we'll see if it does.

1 hour ago, tanstaafl2 said:

 

The sample I tasted was sweet as well but otherwise a bit light and to be honest, bland, so I didn't get a bottle.

 

 

 

The description sounds a bit like Suntory's Toki, which was also developed for the North American market. While not a bad whisky, per se, it also isn't as good as some of the better Japanese labels. (Though, to be honest, I didn't find the current NAS bottling of Yamazaki to be all that compelling, either.) It certainly seems like there's some "capitalizing on interest in the category" going on.

Edited February 3, 2017 by mkayahara (log)