Salt hangs in the air over the Akashi Strait, and the ferries have been drawing their lines across the water for as long as anyone can remember. Sake has been brewed on this shore since 1888. The whisky arrived almost as an afterthought and simply stayed — still shaped by the house around it, by small stills and by a toji's hand on the process.
The expert's description
Akashi Blue Label Blended Japanese Whisky is a Blended Japanese Whisky matured in American white oak shochu casks and finished in sherry casks and bourbon casks, bottled at 40%.
Behind the bottle sits Eigashima Shuzo in the town of Akashi, Hyogo Prefecture, better known in whisky circles as White Oak Distillery. The house was granted its whisky licence back in 1919, but only put it to serious use in the mid-1960s when the first small pot stills went in. Whisky is still only part of the year for them: sake through the winter, shochu in spring, whisky in June and July.
Those small stills matter. A smaller pot produces a spirit lower in fusel alcohols, which makes the new make gentler from the outset. That is why Akashi can get away with shorter maturation without the whisky tasting raw.
The cask history is the unusual part. The blend of malt and grain whisky first rests in American white oak casks that previously held shochu — that is where the dry, faintly herbal thread comes from. After that it spends time in sherry casks and bourbon casks, which layer vanilla, dried fruit and spice on top. Blue Label is a permanent part of the Akashi range and carries no age statement.
Tasting notes
Nose
Orange peel and marmalade first, then honey and vanilla. Warm oak sits behind it with a small scattering of white pepper.
Palate
Ginger, cinnamon and black pepper up front. Toasted oak follows, with dried apricots and a citrus brightness. A faint wisp of smoke in the background — closer to the smell of a bonfire than to peat.
Finish
Long for the strength. Spicy and sweet at the same time, with dry oak lingering at the very end.
Specifications
Name: Akashi Blue Label Blended Japanese Whisky
Distillery: Eigashima Shuzo
Region/Country: Akashi Hyogo Japan
Type: Blended Japanese Whisky
ABV: 40%
Size: 70 CL
Cask type: American white oak shochu casks, finished in sherry casks and bourbon casks
EAN no.: 4969265722156
Flavour profile
Fruity · Spicy · Vanilla · Sherry-matured · Gentle
Did you know?
Eigashima Shuzo received its state whisky licence in 1919 — four years before Yamazaki even broke ground. The paperwork then gathered dust for almost half a century before the house properly started making whisky.
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