Rating 95
Style
Produced In Kagoshima Prefecture
Japan
ABV 51%
Availability Limited
Price $115.00 
Reviewed By
Reviewed 2025-12-02

Kanosuke Hioki Pot Still Japanese Whisky Review

Our highest ranking Japanese whisky is, perhaps surprisingly, not from the Suntory company, the longtime standard-bearers of the category.

Indeed, Japanese whisky has seen plenty of upstart arrivals in the U.S. over the last decade and Kanosuke is maybe the best. Founded in 2017 at a distillery along Fukiagehama Beach in Kagoshima Prefecture — a spin-off of a 140-year-old shochu distillery — this craft whisky is distilled in three Miyake copper pot stills of differing neck shapes, along with vacuum distillation, which the distillery believes creates varying, complex distillates. This whisky likewise comes from both unmalted and malted barley and is then matured in both new American white oak casks of a larger puncheon size (450 liters) so as to not get over-oaked by the region’s climate.

You’ve never quite tasted Japanese whisky like this. It’s lush on the palate, sweet with hints of peaches and plums, even a touch savory, though with a soft, pleasing finish.

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95
POINTS
Kanosuke Hioki Pot Still Japanese Whisky
Our highest ranking Japanese whisky is, perhaps surprisingly, not from the Suntory company, the longtime standard-bearers of the category. Indeed, Japanese whisky has seen plenty of upstart arrivals in the U.S. over the last decade and Kanosuke is maybe the best. Founded in 2017 at a distillery along Fukiagehama Beach in Kagoshima Prefecture — a spin-off of a 140-year-old shochu distillery — this craft whisky is distilled in three Miyake copper pot stills of differing neck shapes, along with vacuum distillation, which the distillery believes creates varying, complex distillates. This whisky likewise comes from both unmalted and malted barley and is then matured in both new American white oak casks of a larger puncheon size (450 liters) so as to not get over-oaked by the region’s climate. You’ve never quite tasted Japanese whisky like this. It’s lush on the palate, sweet with hints of peaches and plums, even a touch savory, though with a soft, pleasing finish.

Reviewed On: 12-02-2025
95
POINTS
Kanosuke Hioki Pot Still Japanese Whisky
Our highest ranking Japanese whisky is, perhaps surprisingly, not from the Suntory company, the longtime standard-bearers of the category. Indeed, Japanese whisky has seen plenty of upstart arrivals in the U.S. over the last decade and Kanosuke is maybe the best. Founded in 2017 at a distillery along Fukiagehama Beach in Kagoshima Prefecture — a spin-off of a 140-year-old shochu distillery — this craft whisky is distilled in three Miyake copper pot stills of differing neck shapes, along with vacuum distillation, which the distillery believes creates varying, complex distillates. This whisky likewise comes from both unmalted and malted barley and is then matured in both new American white oak casks of a larger puncheon size (450 liters) so as to not get over-oaked by the region’s climate. You’ve never quite tasted Japanese whisky like this. It’s lush on the palate, sweet with hints of peaches and plums, even a touch savory, though with a soft, pleasing finish.

Reviewed On: 12-02-2025