Nagahama 4 Years Old 2017

Nagahama 4 Years Old 2017 is a single malt from Nagahama Distillery, the small pot-still operation opened in 2016 beside Lake Biwa in Shiga prefecture. Distilled in 2017 and bottled in 2021 at 51.1% cask strength for the European market, it is a single cask expression matured entirely in mizunara, making it one of the more unusual and boldly Japanese-aligned bottlings from this young Shiga house.

Mizunara, or Japanese oak, is the most prized and characterful wood in the Japanese whisky tradition: its porous, hard-to-cooperage nature means it is rarely used as the sole vessel, but when it is, its contribution dominates. The noted rubbery note sits alongside the expected sandalwood, incense and coconut, all characteristics of raw, active mizunara influence in a young spirit. At four years the wood and distillate are still finding their balance, and the cask strength bottling captures that interaction at full intensity, giving a flavour profile that is unmistakably and unapologetically Japanese in character.