Fukano Distillery
Single Cask Reviews
Hitoyoshi is surrounded by mountains and is known for its pure water and nature.
Shigeruriku Fukano is the fifth generation of his family to run the distillery. They use a combination of malted and un-malted rice to make their whisky in a pot still. These releases are very limited in nature and only a few casks are bottled each year.
Fukano was the first distillery in the Kumamoto region to mature its shochu in barrels, a novel practice spearheaded by Chizuru Fukano, the mother of current distillery president Seiichi Fukano. It’s this post-distillation wood aging that turns the fresh shochu into something more accurately classified as whisky.
More Info at www.fukanowhisky.com
Best Sherry Cask Japanese Whisky: Fukano 12-Year-Old Single Sherry Cask – Men’s Journal Spirits Awards 2024
Fukano Select
Our latest Annual Edition featuring our new bottle and label design.
Fukano Select has been developed using Red Wine casks, Manzanilla Sherry casks, and new & refilled Oak casks.
4,170 bottle
43% abv
2025 Enthusiast Report International Spirits Competition – Gold
2023 Las Vegas Global Spirit Awards – Best in Category – World Whisky – Platinum, 97 pts.
Fukano Blonde
This new Limited Edition of only 1,040 bottles celebrates how elegant the spirit can be when not overpowered by Oak.
Bottled at 42.5% abv, it’s a moment in time, and it’s awesome.
A vatting of two large casks. Each cask contributed an element that was missing when tasted separately, vatting them together created the most unique Fukano ever released.
Fukano Blonde is about elegance. Tasting notes include asian pear, lychee, mild vanilla, and toasted cinnamon bread.
There is a creaminess that coats the palate almost like the oil from a very fresh O’toro.
This whisky is meant to be pared with very mild white fish and vegetables.
2024 San Francisco World Spirits Competition – Double Gold, 98 points
Fukano 200th Anniversary Sherry Single Cask
This special release of 2,324 bottles was crafted to celebrate the distillery’s 200th Anniversary.
Bottles at 42.3% abv, it is big and dank with Sherry influence.
Fukano Edition #2223
There is a special place within the clouds peacefully suspended over Hitoyoshi Japan consisting of sea salt, foreign trade winds, and eventual showers. This canopy continues to germinate the Fukano profile; untouched as it has been for centuries. Pure, natural, & simply delicious.
This latest edition for 2022/2023 offers a beautiful blend of koji whisky aged in refilled White Oak, Manzanila Sherry, and French red wine casks. Yielding a total of 5,670 bottles released globally. Bottled at 41.6% abv.
NOSE: Sugared plums and mulberry are presented with fresh rain and powdered baking spices; with hints of root veg sweetness.
PALATE: Young cherry blossoms, waxed honeysuckle, and orchard fruit soak in just before the delicate citrus oils and lightly toasted macadamia nut, butterscotch, and tropical skins arrive.
FINISH: As the spices settle to a soft creaminess, a whispering fizz complimented by ripe plantains and dried wine melt slowly toward a lasting semi-sweet white chocolate covered cherry fade.
Locally Grown Rice, a Pure Water Source, and Charred Barrels
Because rice is a clean, sulfurless, distillate it doesn’t require copper stills to produce a drinkable beverage and is instead distilled in stainless steel at a relatively low proof. After distillation the shochu, which would be called new make outside of Japan, is then transferred to new charred Oak barrels and laid to rest in a warehouse that more closely resembles a Scottish dunnage than a Kentucky Rickhouse.
