Akkeshi Distillery Foundations #3 Mizunara Cask Single Malt Spirit

Akkeshi Distillery Foundations #3 Mizunara Cask Single Malt Spirit is a 200ml release of young Akkeshi single malt matured in Japanese oak.

Mizunara has given Japanese whisky much of its reputation, lending incense, sandalwood and coconut, and it is notoriously difficult wood to work with: porous, crooked and prone to leaking. Akkeshi has the advantage of growing on the doorstep, since Hokkaido is Mizunara country and the casks are sourced and coopered on the island. Released before the spirit reached three years, and so labelled spirit and not whisky, this was the third in the Foundations run and an early look at how the distillery's peated malt would take to that wood.

Incense and sandalwood sit over malt and a dry, coastal smoke, with the wood already making itself felt. Serve neat, at room temperature, in a small measure. Water flattens the Mizunara aromatics, so go easy, and leave this one out of cocktails entirely.