Baby Whisky
How does our whisky age through our harsh winters? Here's an eager peak at two of our aging expressions.
Hey, I’m Casey. Thanks for reading our newsletter. Here I share our startup journey of Kamui Whisky K.K. Both the good and the bad. We’ve been busy, but when I’m not overwhelmed, I’ll share a story as we continue to build our craft whisky distillery on our remote, volcanic island in the most northern part of Japan. This is Rishiri Whisky.
Does our Rishiri Whisky hibernate during the winter?
Does it wrap up inside itself, keeping warm, leaving the expansion and breathing in and out of the barrel for the other seasons? We don’t know yet. It will take several more years to learn the nuances of how our whisky ages through Rishiri’s particular winter.
The temperature ranges from an icy -20°C when the wind is really blowing, to 1°C on a very nice winter day1. The mid-winter winds can feel like a slap from a frozen kelp. Not really weather for fast aging.
We wanted to know. We were excited. So, we made small withdrawals from two of our aging barrels.
Our first selection came from one of our very earliest barrels. Distilled and barreled in late 2022. A small pull was taken from this x-bourbon barrel (Four Roses), aged 2 years and 15 days.
A drop of our valuable liquid:
Tasting notes from our Head Distiller:
Super smooth first taste. Now it is still just vanilla, but with 3 years or so more of aging, maybe we will get to caramel or toffee.
The first punch in the nose is the classic vanilla, then some bold, strong, spicy oak from the deep char of this barrel. There are some super nice campfire notes. Not from the peat, but from the char.
After 4 or 5 years, more complex notes like leather and tobacco leaf can begin to appear.
For comparison, and to be honest, to film a special scene for an upcoming TV program exclusively on us here in Rishiri, we also drew a bit from our Limousin2 barrel.
As the Limousin barrel is new oak, a special French oak, the whisky ages faster than the x-bourbon barrel. It picks up a deeper colour and unique flavors more quickly.
Here's a look at the Limousin-aged whisky at 18 months old. More golden:
Javier’s take:
New Limousin barrels have wider, more open grains (which means a lot more angel’s share3 😇) than American oak, with a high tannin content.
It ages faster at the beginning; that's why the deeper colour.
It has some subtle, sweet, creamy notes. Dried fruits too. I would say figs and raisins. The long and complex aftertaste is the best part.
From my point of view, this one will be ready in 3 years.
Neither of the barrels we sampled is ready. But Javier, and all of us, are proud. Javier is especially proud of the super-long aftertaste.
A super-long aftertaste will be Javier’s signature.
Toddlers at Work
A brief interruption to the narrative to share a toddler4 getting a core component of the whisky-making process deep into his muscle memory:
From our Small Island to the World - A Miraku
Miraku, our Michelin-recognized ramen shop neighbor, and its owner Takamasa, one of our earliest believers, recently had a pop-up at the Osaka Expo 2025.
They were the second highest-selling booth for the 10 days they were there!
It’s pretty cool: from our small, and continuously shrinking, town, we have a fellow company with global ambitions.
Visiting the Osaka Expo myself5, seeing all the national booths, getting inspired by all the architecture, it makes me proud that Rishiri was represented. Rishiri Ramen was there, killing it, winning even more global fans.
My day visit to Osaka, left me inspired by Takamasa, Miraku, and the sheer human capability and vision on display at the Expo. As we have our properly aged whisky available, I too want to be with our Miraku neighbors at these fun, inspiring, global events, showcasing to new fans around the world the special tastes and terroir our island has to offer.
Even though Rishiri’s population is shrinking, despite our recent team growth and new members relocating to the island, our ambitions are not!
Our first Japanese whisky, aged a minimum of three years, will be ready for release next fall/winter (2026). Only 800 bottles6, each one shaped by the wind, the slow deep winters, and the singular spirit of Rishiri will be available.
Our goal is to capture Rishiri in a bottle.
To bring more and more of our unique terroir into the whisky we make. To bottle the emotion, the unique, wild spirit, of this power spot we call home here in Kamui.
These baby whiskies reassure us that we are on the right path to Rishiri Whisky being a globally recognized, liquid ambassador for our island’s character and soul.
Rishiri’s winters are not for the faint of heart: January highs hover around -1°C, with lows dipping to -4°C, and the wind that feels like it’s constantly auditioning for a role in a polar expedition. Islay, the original inspiration for me setting up a distillery in Rishiri, by contrast, enjoys a comparatively balmy winter with January highs averaging 8°C, lows around 3°C.
During a moment I felt rich in the early days I got excited looking through the barrel catalogue that one of our (seriously good) sales guys had sent through to us and made an impulsive purchase. No regrets!
In France, they call it ‘la part des anges.’ In Rishiri, we suspect the local crows, ever-present and alarmingly clever, are getting their cut too.
Don’t worry, we keep the toddler away from the cask strength.
Would recommend a visit. Especially if you like architecture.
I sold a whole bunch of Owner’s Barrels in the first couple of years, for operating cash flow, making it so we don’t have much our own whisky to offer in the first couple of years. Miraku owns a couple of our earliest barrels!