Kurayoshi Pure Malt

Not all Japanese whisky is Japanese. Something you will discover to your shock when reading the recommended book Whisky Rising from Stefan Van Eycken. Now, it’s not that big of an issue if the producer communicates transparently about it – like Togouchi does (Togouchi is Scotch blended with Canadian grain and then matured in Japan). But this Kurayoshi? If you check their website, you would swear they are a whisky distillery that’s been producing whisky for decades. Well, Matsui Shuzo has been distilling sake and shochu since 1910. But not whisky. That is sourced – insiders say in Scotland – that Matsui Shuzo than finishes in their warehouses. The Japanese law is allows for this being labeled Japanese whisky. Oh, my… anyway, rant over. Kurayoshi is available in my neck of the wood, so let’s give it a go.

Light nose on oatmeal, freshly baked bread, a twig of mint and some oak. Light, accessible and not even half bad, but nothing special either.

It is very light on the palate with some vanilla and ripe apples, but it quickly gets a bitter edge from the tannins. A touch of ginger and some liquorice, but nothing else.

The finish is rather short and balances between sweet and bitter.

A very easy whisky. Much ado about nothing.