Shizuoka 4 Years Old 2019

Shizuoka 4 Years Old 2019 is a single cask cask strength single malt from Gaiaflow's Shizuoka distillery in Shizuoka prefecture, drawn from an ex-bourbon Octave cask, distilled in 2019 and bottled in 2023 for an event market. The Octave, a small-format cask of roughly 50 litres, accelerates the wood and spirit interaction, drawing more extract from the American oak in four years than a standard barrel would in the same period.

At 50.6%, the maturation has concentrated vanilla, baked apple, caramel and a warm spice, all typical outcomes of Octave maturation. The Shizuoka new make, characteristically clean and fruit-forward from the distillery's cedar washbacks, runs underneath and gives the spirit freshness. The result is a denser, richer take on the house's typically lighter style, with the Octave wood acting as an amplifier rather than a transformer.