Akashi whisky is made at the White Oak Distillery in the city of Akashi, Hyogo Prefecture, west of Kobe, facing the Seto Inland Sea. Its parent house, Eigashima Shuzo, was founded in 1888 as a sake producer and was granted a licence to make whisky in 1919, four years before Yamazaki was built, giving it a legitimate claim to be Japan’s oldest.
Production is deliberately modest: the whisky stills run for just one month each year. Most of the spirit becomes blended whisky, while the rare single malts carry the name Akashi, after the distillery’s hometown; the first release appeared in 2007.
The blended expression, drawn from malt and grain whiskies, shows a honey-gold colour, a fruity apple-and-malt nose, and a soft, sweet palate touched with peat.
