Japanese Rice Whiskey
Designed to feel lighter than other japanese whiskies it s manufactured on kyushu island with local hino hikari rice.
Japanese rice whiskey. Kikori was the first fully rice based japanese whisky exported to the u s. The heart of kikori whiskey is the flavorful 100 locally grown rice which has been cultivated in southern japan for over 2000 years. The 10 year old whisky scored 96 out of 100 which tied with hibiki. Various asian cultures have been using rice and its mold the japanese call it koji to make distilled spirits called shochu soju baijiu and ruou gao for hundreds and in some cases thousands of years whatever you want to call it rice wine or white liquor.
The nutrient rich volcanic soil of kyushu island is the ideal environment to grow this nutritious and flavorful rice. But let us start with the part that s not. And it is sort of. Rice whisky derives from shochu a japanese spirit that can be distilled from dozens of ingredients including sweet potatoes barley and rice.
Koji a kind of mold that is also used for sake miso and soy sauce turns the rice s starches to sugar before fermentation. While the japanese variants use koji a kind of mold american craft distillers working with rice are drawing on the traditions of chinese baijiu laotian lao lao and other southeast asian rice spirits. World by anthony delcros march 11 2019 i fell in love with whisky at the young age of 16 not in consequence of tasting it but through the pages of world whiskey a book written by charles maclean. Actually there are 2 different type of rice whisky difference between them are enzyme for fermentation.
The first encounter was through the history of whisky and that was enough to get me. 2 different type rice whisky. Since its official launch in december 2015 it s inspired a handful of category. Japanese rice whisky should be approached with curiosity.
Although there have been other rice whiskies this was the first 100 rice japanese whiskey in the united states. And now fukano whisky a rice based japanese spirit received one of the highest points at 2020 ultimate spirits challenge. Rice whiskey might sound like something entirely new. Malt rice whisky is categorized as one kind of grain whisky in the world.
