Wakatsuru Junenmyo Half Decade / 40% / 0.7l

The Wakatsuru Shuzo company was founded in 1947, and two years later obtained a license to produce shōchu. Since 1952, it has also been a licensed whisky producer, its first offering being Sunshine whisky (debuted in 1953).

In 2016, Wakatsuru Shuzo launched a campaign to renovate Saburomaru Distillery, which was met with a huge response – 463 local residents pledged financial support for the project. As a result, the aluminum stills (commonly used for shōchu production) were replaced with copper ones, and a new mash tun was installed. The Wakatsuru Junemyo Half Decade presented here is, according to the producer, “whisky from several carefully selected barrels, aged for over five years.” As you might guess, this is whisky distilled before the aforementioned renovation. Its name is a reference to the village of Junemyo, located in the Hokuriku region, not far from the distillery.