Ep. 180: Kanosuke Distillery with Roland Ng

2025-03-26

Shochu Tradition Meets The New Japanese Whisky In Kagoshima, along one of the longest beaches in Japan, lies Kanosuke Distillery. Though the family has been distilling shochu for 140+ years, they hadn't entered the whisky sphere. That changed in 2017, with the first products coming out in 2021. This is a new standard for Japanese whisky, making grain whisky on shochu stills and using Japanese stills to distill the malt. They've aged as much as 40% of their new make in their own shochu casks, and the component series ...

Shochu Tradition Meets The New Japanese Whisky

In Kagoshima, along one of the longest beaches in Japan, lies Kanosuke Distillery. Though the family has been distilling shochu for 140+ years, they hadn't entered the whisky sphere. That changed in 2017, with the first products coming out in 2021.

This is a new standard for Japanese whisky, making grain whisky on shochu stills and using Japanese stills to distill the malt. They've aged as much as 40% of their new make in their own shochu casks, and the component series I've tasted with just the shochu cask-aged spirit is as different a Japanese whisky as I've had in years.

As they enter the US market more fully, the Kanosuke team is led by Roland Ng, a techie-turned-whiskyphile who serves as General Manager for the Americas and is also a founder of Fog City Social. He's a guy who knows his whisky (and is a great hang out!), and I'm glad to call him a friend.

Thank you to Roland for entering to the Whiskey Ring!

Thanks to our Presenting Sponsor, BAXUS

Baxus is the world's leading collectible spirits marketplace, with user-friendly options for buyers, sellers, and collectors looking to vault their collections. Use my link below to visit the BAXUS.CO website and sign up!

BAXUS Website
BAXUS on Instagram
BAXUS on Facebook
BAXUS on Twitter/X
BAXUS on LinkedIn

_________________________________________________________

If you haven’t joined the Patreon community yet, please consider doing so at patreon.com/whiskeyinmyweddingring

The Bottle Share Club - the $25/month Patreon level - is SOLD OUT! You can still support the podcast for as little as $1/month, and $5/month patrons will have first dibs if a $25/month member retires.

If you haven’t yet, please follow Whiskey in my Wedding Ring and the Whiskey Ring Podcast on Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn, and subscribe to the newsletter on the website.

Kanosuke Distillery