Takamine 17 Year Whiskey Koji Fermented

This whisky is made entirely from polished barley fermented with white koji and Fukuoka yeast. They are double distilled on pot stills and are proofed between runs to achieve a natural still strength of around 45%. They enter the cask at still strength and are aged in Shinozaki Distillery’s former municipal rice bunker turned aging facility. The facility has thick concrete walls and ceilings (much like MGP) which creates a cave like environment resulting in unusually graceful maturation of these whiskies in a warm climate. This rare parcel of heavily aged barrels was hand selected from some of the distillery’s initial experimentation with this new production style. While the whiskies are not malted, they achieve a great deal of depth and complexity and represent the finest and oldest grain whiskies coming out of Japan today. The selected casks -7525, 7594, 7595- were distilled on November 15th, 2006 & March 28th, 2007. The barrels in question were 450L Ariake Cooperage American White Oak, medium char seasoned in for many years with barley shochu. These whiskies are 100% fermented, distilled, aged, and bottled in Fukuoka, Japan. They are the longest aged products ever produced and released by Shinozaki Distillery and will not be matched in age again for many years to come (if ever). These barrels were bottled without chillfiltration with a natural cask strength of 42.5% abv without coloring or the use of additives whatsoever.