The Matsui Sakura Single Cask is a Japanese Single Malt Whiskey, published by one of the brand new stars on the Japanese whiskeyscene: Kurayoshi Distillery. This is a special and long-awaited “single-capsaftapning”, which means that it is just one dish that is drained without being mixed with other fade. The name “Sakura Cask” refers to the whiskey is stored on a dish made of cherry wood. It is not something you look right often, but on the other hand, you can hardly say Japan, without thinking about flowering cherry trees. And the result is really nice! The whiskey is tapped at 48% alcohol without the addition of dyes.
Color: Light golden.
Fragrance: Fresh and perfumed scent of dried flowers, vanilla, citrus and marzipan.
Taste notes: round and soft in the taste. We sense rose, cherry, lemon peel and vanilla.
Serving suggestions: should be enjoyed clean, possibly. with a drop of water.
Kurayoshi Distillery is located at the foot of Mt. Daisen in Tottori, Japan. The place is chosen because of the good spring water that you believe in Kurayoshi is one of the most essential parts of a good whiskey, but also because of the climate. The temperature swings a lot, and it causes a greater interaction between the spirits and the dish – therefore, it believes that the whiskey “matures” faster than for example in Scotland. You use a wide variety of kinds of dishes, for example by the Japanese oak type, Mizunara, but also the fade of, for example, cherry wood, vineyards and sherryfade.
The distiller is owned by the company Matsui Shuzo, which has made Shochu since 1910! The license for whiskey production, they only got in 2015, in the wake of a huge whiskey room in Japan, and in 2018 Matsui got another license for a distillery in Baba, Tottori.
In the 2020 edition of Jim Murray’s “whiskey Bible”, The Matsui Mizunara Cask was named Japanese Single Malt of the Year!
