Kurayoshi Distillery is Matsui Shuzo's whisky distillery in Kurayoshi City, Tottori Prefecture, and it began distilling whisky in 2017.1,2 Its owner dates from 1910 and took the name Matsui Shuzo in 2013.1,3,4 When it launched in 2016, Kurayoshi whisky was blended from imported spirit and Japanese spirit made by other firms.1
The company says its predecessor, Ogawa Shuzo, was an old family that ran a sake brewery from the Edo Period.1,3,4 The firm was set up on 29 March 1910 as Ogawa Gomei by the third head of the Ogawa family, to brew sake and soy sauce and make silk.
A floral nose gives way to pear on the palate and finish; while the cherry character is elusive, the reviewer quite likes this unusual profile.
Light and pleasant on the nose, it starts malty but drifts into cardboard and sawdust, with a few agreeable citrus notes and a short finish.
The Kurayoshi whisky brand launched in 2016 with Made in Japan on its labels.1 Whisky fans pointed out that it blended imported spirit with Japanese spirit from other firms, and that the Kurayoshi Distillery on its labels did not yet exist.1
In 2017 the company moved its head office from Kawaramachi to Kamifurukawa and set up its first factory there.1 It moved whisky making to that factory, put in 3 pot stills and began distilling whisky.1 The sources do not say how much of later Kurayoshi whisky comes from these stills.1 Its whisky licence moved to Kamifurukawa on 1 December 2017.2 Its second factory, in Baba-cho, got its own whisky licence on 28 June 2018, and the company lists it as No. 2 of the Kurayoshi Distillery.3,6 The distillery uses deep natural water from the Daisen mountain range.4,7 The company says its whisky matures in the climate of the Sea of Japan region, where the yearly temperature range is large and ageing advances quickly.7,8 It ages whisky in Mizunara (Japanese oak) and Sakura (cherry wood) casks, and also in wine and sherry casks.7,8
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