【The Commitment Behind Single Malt Japanese Whisky Setouchi】
At Setouchi Distillery, our guiding principle in whisky-making has been: ‘We want to craft a genuine whisky we can confidently declare truly delicious.’
To achieve this, we have meticulously focused on every single step of the process.
1. Pursuit of Carefully Selected Ingredients and Methods
We meticulously select non-peated malt of the highest quality as our raw material.
Water is sourced from the mineral-rich underground spring water of Mount Haigamine, an isolated peak in Kure.
We also focused on fermentation, drawing on over 120 years of experience cultivated in sake brewing.
While wort fermentation is typically conducted solely with distillery yeast, which has a high alcohol production capacity, we also use ale yeast. Although ale yeast has a lower alcohol production capacity compared to distillery yeast, it imparts a fruity and rich aroma.
Furthermore, by fermenting slowly over 1.5 times the usual fermentation period (90–114 hours), we achieve a rich aroma and flavour. Using small-scale copper pot stills (1,000L capacity) allows us to produce a smooth and aromatic whisky with minimal off-flavours.
For the middle cut during redistillation – which significantly influences the new make spirit’s character – we deliberately opted for a low cut, incorporating more of the tails rather than the mainstream high cut. This yields a richer, more complex flavour profile.
For maturation, we selected Oloroso sherry casks rather than the typical bourbon casks, as these impart deep richness and a pronounced sense of maturity to the whisky.
While Oloroso sherry casks used for maturation are usually 500L in size, smaller casks accelerate the maturation process. We therefore employed smaller 225L casks, known as “hogsheads”, to enhance the perceived maturity.
This whisky is matured for over three years, directly influenced by the four seasons of the Setouchi, and finished uncoloured and non-chill filtered.
This process makes it more prone to sediment and cloudiness compared to standard whisky, but we deliberately retain these components as a source of flavour, allowing you to enjoy the whisky’s true taste.
Furthermore, even when matured in the same type of cask, whisky from different casks will exhibit subtle variations in flavour.
While it is common practice for single malt whisky producers to blend casks to even out the flavour, Setouchi Distillery believes in celebrating these individual cask characteristics. We therefore release our whisky as single cask expressions, without blending.
3. Design Symbolising the “Setouchi”
The design centres on the “Setouchi” logo, emblematic of the series crafted by Setouchi Distillery, evoking the tranquil, leisurely atmosphere and beautiful sea of the region. The sleek, original bottle intuitively expresses the undulating waves and gentle island breezes.
At BAR Shinai, we serve it by the glass: 45ml: ¥2,640, 30ml: ¥1,760, 15ml: ¥880
For detailed information on the “single malt whisky Japanese whisky Setouchi Oloroso Sherry Cask”, please see this article.
For a full list of BARShinkai’s whisky menu, click here.
