Japanese Distillery Honors Founder with Solera Whisky

Thursday, 14 August 2025 at 18:04Kaze whisky

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Tenkyo distillery unveils a new edition of its whisky, tying Scotland and Japan together. What is the Kaze Founder's Reserve Legacy whisky?

Tenkyo Distillery's new whisky pays tribute to Shunsuke Koike, the late founder of the distillery. Koike experimented extensively with Scotch new make spirit, and that's exactly what has been incorporated into this whisky.

The distillery has indeed launched a new whisky crafted with Scottish spirit. So, what's the story here?

Scottish spirit, aged in Japan

Koike once transported 189 barrels of new make spirit from Scotland. The spirit resided in as many as 58 different oak barrels, forming the base for the Kaze whisky.

That base spirit has now been integrated into a solera system by the distillery, ensuring a trace of Koike's original spirit invariably remains in each bottle.

What is a solera system?

A solera system is a technique for maturing whisky 'in layers' and blending them together. This involves setting up a number of whisky-filled barrels stacked one above the other.

The bottom layer is known as the solera. It contains the whisky that is essentially ready for bottling. Each time bottling occurs, the whisky from the top barrels is moved down. Thus, the bottom barrel is never empty.

Meanwhile, new whisky is added to the system from the top, leading to a delightful consistency in taste. In the case of Kaze whisky, it's also ensuring the founder's spirit never truly disappears.

How does the new Kaze Founder’s Reserve Legacy whisky taste?

The new Kaze Founder’s Reserve Legacy whisky is immediately presented with tasting notes at release. They are as follows:

Nose: Raisins, figs, white chocolate, brown sugar, and light spice smoke.
Palate: Toffee, nuts, almonds, apricots, and a hint of smokiness.
Finish: Cigar with sweet and warm undertones.

The whisky is bottled at 46.9% alcohol by volume (ABV).

Where can the new Kaze whisky be purchased?

The Kaze Founder’s Reserve Legacy whisky comes in 700 ml bottles and is recommended for about 8,250 yen (roughly 70 Euros). The whisky is currently available only in Japan. Whether this edition will also reach Europe, and therefore the Netherlands, hasn't been announced.