Kiuchi Hinomaru 1st Edition Japanese Blended Whisky 48%abv 30ml

Kiuchi is a sake maker that needed something for their workers to do in the off-season so in 1996 they started making craft beer. There was a craft beer boom and bust in the 1990's in Japan (there is a whisky boom at the moment and their will likely be a bust too - based on this first bottle Kiuchi will come out on top wth whisky too). Kiuchi survived the craft beer bust and is now possibly the most popular Japanese craft beer company and you can get Hitachino Nest White Ale and Yuza Lager at major bottle shops in Australia so there is some boilermaker options with this whisky. To make authentic local craft ales. Kiuchi started working with local farmers to grow a heritage Japanese barley called Kaneko Golden Barley that hadn't been grown since the 1960's. There was way too much for their needs and they had contracted with the farmers to buy all their barley for several years. So they started making whisky at the Nukada brewery in February 2016 and then they built the new much larger Yasato Distillery which put the first whisky into casks in April 2020.

Hinomaru is the name of the Japanese flag - the rising sun. This is the first core whisky release and contains grain whisky distilled at the Nukada distillery at the brewery and single malt from Yasato aged for over 3 years in a combination of sherry and bourbon casks. Yasato only uses 100% local barley to make single malt whisky. The Nukada Distillery makes a range of spirits using several grains types with a hybrid a column still. Hinomaru is a blend of grain whisky and single male from Nukada Distillery and single malt from Yamato Distillery. This differentiates Kiuchi as many new Japanese distillery blends use Scotch grain whisky mixed with Japanese Single Malt. This is a promising distillery and they have lots of casks maturing including many Sakura casks (Japanese Cherry Wood). Its a fruity and buttery whisky and its bottled at 48%. Also its priced very reasonably compared to a lot of terrible overpriced whisky covered in Samurai etc. Its still a bit young but this could be exceptional in a few years.