Akashi Japanese Whiskey • Single Malt

The White Oak distillery is perhaps the least known of Japan’s whiskey producers but it has a legitimate claim to be the country’s oldest with a license to make whiskey granted in 1919 – four years before Yamazaki was built. It’s located in the city of Akashi in Hyogo Prefecture west of Kobe facing the Seto Inland Sea. The distillery was founded by Eigashima Shuzo in 1888 to produce sake. Eigashima Shuzo obtained a license to manufacture whiskey in 1919 but it was when the company moved to their current facilities in 1984 that White Oak Distillery was born. White Oak’s whiskey stills are only in operation for one month every year and so their production is very small. Most of it’s a blended whiskey but when the single malts do come on the market the whiskey is named ‘Akashi’ after its hometown. The first Akashi release was in 2007. This unusual 50% ABV 12-year-old release was distilled in 1997 followed by maturation in x-Spanish brandy casks. Non-chill filtered and limited