Oita Ryu No Hitomi Shochu Sherry Cask 720ml

Ryu no Hitomi is a branded rice made from a fairly new variety known as Inochi no Ichi. It is grown to strict agricultural standards in Gifu prefecture with no chemical fertilizers or pesticides. Most of it is consumed as a high grade eating rice but a small amount is reserved each year for Oita brewery to make into shochu.

Ryu no Hitomi Sherry Cask is a limited edition of just 1000 bottles. White Oak sherry barrels were imported from Spain and filled with Ryu no Hitomi shochu. While the mention of sherry cask aging awakens thoughts of big rambunctious flavours, the cask finishing was used sparingly with 52 weeks on wood. The nose retains the aroma of sweet steamed rice and this shochu is still unmistakably 100% rice shochu. The palate has a mild sweetness upfront with characters of vanilla, citrus peel and sultana with ever so gentle tannins drying the finish. With an ABV of just 25% this shochu is ever so easy to drink. Think of it as a light Japanese whisky.

Tasting notes above are based on drinking straight up but feel free to add a cube of ice to add to the smoothness.