Glenfiddich’s Grand Yozakura: A single malt whisky with an Okinawan touch

When I get a pitch filled with superlatives about a new Scotch whisky with a unique cask finish, I tend to approach it with some scepticism, the way I would with an insurance salesman.

It’s worth noting that a cask finish is not the same as a cask maturation: The former, done after the main cask ageing, usually lasts from a few weeks to a few months, while the latter has a legal minimum of at least three years.

Cask-finished whiskies draw debates. Take for instance, Scotch finished in a mizunara cask, a Japanese oak known for imparting notes of sandalwood to whiskies. For several years now, Scotch producers have had a love affair with these casks; almost every top distillery has a whisky finished in a mizunara cask in their product range. But Japanese whisky makers highlight that it takes at least 20 years of maturation in mizunara for the wood to properly lend its influence on a whisky. Thus, is a mizunara cask finish effective at all — or is it, like many things in whisky marketing today, just hyperbole?

But I digress. I was recently invited to try Glenfiddich’s Grand Yozakura, a new 29-year-old whisky finished in ex-awamori casks. The sceptical journalist in me wondered if this was going to be gimmicky. But I was also intrigued. The Grand Yozakura is also the first single malt in the world to be finished in awamori casks.

An awamori cask is a barrel that was used to age awamori, an Okinawan distilled spirit made from long grain indica rice. Awamori is traditionally aged in clay pots to soften its texture and bring out its aromas. In post-war Okinawa under American Occupation, many awamori producers aged their spirits in barrels to create a coloured spirit that looked like whisky to appeal to American soldiers. Coloured awamori was eventually outlawed in 1972, after Okinawa was returned to Japanese control, but any distillery could still make a coloured awamori if they named it as “awamori liquor”.Today, only a small minority of producers mature their awamori in oak casks (typically American oak), making cask-aged awamori very rare. An awamori that has been aged for three years or more in clay pots or casks is known as a kusu (old spirit).

Glenfiddich’s Grand Yozakura is a whisky matured for 29 years in American and European oak casks at the Glenfiddich Distillery in Dufftown and then finished in awamori casks for six months. Glenfiddich, however, is not revealing the identity of the awamori producer from whom it procured the casks.

In a press statement, Brian Kinsman, Glenfiddich’s malt master, said that when the chance came to acquire rare ex-Awamori casks, they saw “an opportunity to push the boundaries and experiment with this highly unusual spirit”.

“We always learn something new when we lead with innovation so taking a risk is worth it. In the case of awamori, we trialled a very small number of casks at a younger age first,” said Kinsman, adding that awamori is “like whisky, with a diverse range of flavours”. He noted that the six-month finish in awamori casks complements the whisky’s smooth taste and accentuates its mouthfeel and “zingy herbal notes”.

Does the six-month finish in awamori casks make a difference to its taste? The Grand Yozakura does indeed have a savoury, herbaceous edge — if you let the whisky linger on your palate, you’d pick out subtle notes of vanilla, mushrooms, and pickled vegetables; flavours commonly associated with a kusu. These combine with the whisky’s rich flavours of toffee, caramel, cinnamon, and raisins to create a spirit that is at once sweet, vegetal and spicy. I’d like to call it an aged Speyside whisky with a little bit funk; just enough to pique the palate and in no way overwhelm the main fruit-driven flavours of the dram.

While I enjoyed the whisky, I do feel it may be an acquired taste for some; purists may find the mushroom-ey, vegetal accent a little odd, while adventurous drinkers will enjoy its nutty, funky touch.

The Grand Yozakura is also a limited-edition product that won’t be renewed by Glenfiddich. With a retail price of S$2,430, it may be out of reach for the average consumer. If you want to try an awamori cask finish dram at a wallet-friendly price, be patient. We bet this won’t be the first and last time you’d see a whisky finished in ex-awamori casks. Expect other Scotch producers to follow suit.

The Glenfiddich Grand Yozakura is available at duty-free stores at Changi Airport. For more information, visit Glenfiddich