Kujira Whisky: Discover the Rice Whisky of Okinawa, Japan
KUJIRA: Where the Island Meets the Deep
Ask someone what Japanese whisky makes them think of and you'll usually hear the same things. Snowy mountains, quiet forests, cold clear rivers. Fair enough, because plenty of Japanese whisky really does come from places like that.
Kujira doesn't, though. It's from Okinawa, the warm islands down at the very southern end of Japan, where palm trees line the beaches and you can swim in the Pacific most of the year. The whisky is honestly about as unexpected as the place is. It breaks the usual rules right away, with what it's made from, which is rice and not barley.
An Island with Its Own Story
Okinawa has never been quite like the rest of Japan, and there's history behind that. For centuries, the islands were a kingdom of their own, the Ryukyu Kingdom, with their own language and royal court and their own food and traditions. Ryukyu ships sailed all over Asia, trading with China, Korea, and Southeast Asia.
Sometime in the 1400s, one of those trips brought back distilling. The islanders had learned it from Siam, which is Thailand today, and it went on to shape the islands for the next 600 years. Awamori came out of it. That's Okinawa's traditional rice spirit, and it's still a proud part of island life.
From Awamori to Whisky
Kujira is made at Masahiro Distillery, and they've been producing awamori in Okinawa since 1883. Shobun Higa got it all started. His father, Shozoku Higa, was Master Chef to the Ryukyu royal court, so flavor ran in the family, you could say, and Shobun turned that passion toward distilling.
A few generations later, the distillery decided to put its skills to use on whisky. They wanted to know what Okinawa's traditional rice spirit would turn into if they gave it time in oak, which was a pretty bold thing to try, and Kujira is the answer they got.
Japanese Rice Whisky, Not Barley
Most of the world's whisky starts with malted barley, most Japanese whisky included. Kujira starts with rice instead, long-grain indica rice from Thailand, to be exact. Okinawan distillers have favored that kind for their awamori for about a century now.
We think that's a lovely bit of history, actually. The islands learned to distill from Siam, and all these years later their spirit is still made with Thai rice.
And you can taste it. The rice gives Kujira a softness and a gentle sweetness, and it's what sets this Okinawa rice whisky apart the second it hits your tongue.
The Magic of Black Koji
Kujira's real secret is a mold. Sounds strange?
Grain can't ferment until its starch has been turned into sugar. In Scotch whisky, the malted barley handles that. In Okinawa, a mold called black koji (kuro-koji) does it instead, and it suits the islands perfectly. Black koji makes citric acid, which helps protect the fermentation in all that heat and humidity. It also adds richness and depth, and that's a big part of what gives Okinawan spirits their character.
So you've got island rice, black koji and time in oak, and there's really nowhere else this whisky could have come from.
Where Time Moves Faster
Over in Scotland, whisky sits for years in cool, damp warehouses and changes slowly. It's a different story in Okinawa. The subtropical warmth, the humidity, and the ocean breezes all speed up maturation in the cask, so the whisky takes flavor and color from the oak faster. That's why people often do a double take at the age on the label after tasting how much depth Kujira has.
Why a Whale?
Kujira is the Japanese word for whale. Whales spend their lives out in the deep blue sea, crossing oceans and connecting shores that are a long way apart, which is pretty much what the old Ryukyu trading ships did too, carrying goods, ideas, and spirits between islands.
To Kujira, the whale stands for freedom, peace and generosity. For a whisky that was born on an island and is now enjoyed around the world, that seems about right. It made it from the island, across the sea, and into your glass.
Find Your Kujira
There are four expressions in the Kujira Whisky collection, and each one shows off a different side of Okinawan rice whisky. Maybe you've been drinking whisky for years, or maybe this is your first try at Japanese whisky. Either way, there's a bottle here for you.
Kujira Okinawa Whisky Inari is the perfect introduction if you haven't tried rice whisky before.
The Kujira Okinawa Whisky 5 Years Old is bright and expressive, and it shows how quickly Okinawa's climate works.
With the Kujira Okinawa Whisky 10 Years Old, you get something deeper and richer, with more oak and more layers.
The Kujira Okinawa Whisky 15 Years Old is the oldest in the range, and we'd save it for a special occasion.
A Taste of Okinawa
Our advice is to pour a glass and take your time. Try it neat first, and add a splash of water if you want to open it up a bit. After that, have it the way lots of people in Japan drink whisky, as a highball in a tall glass, nice and cold.
Before you drink it, it's worth thinking for a second about how far it's come. The kingdom it comes from learned to distill from its trading partners, the rice crossed the sea, the mold thrives in island heat, and the whisky itself spent years sitting quietly in oak under the Okinawan sun. It's still Japanese whisky. It just isn't the Japanese whisky you've known.
KUJIRA
The Spirit of Okinawa.
From rice to koji, from awamori to oak, from the island to the world.