DAKE KANBA
Blended MaltMASH BILL – unstated “world blend” of malted barleys, combining scotch and Japanese whiskies
PROOF – 86
AGE – NAS
DISTILLERY – Hombo Shuzo Mars Whisky
PRICE – $189 (includes international shipping)
WORTH BUYING? – sadly no
Uncorked and tasted in The Year of No Buying (The what? 🔗 here.)
On the last night of my recent trip to Tokyo, Japan, I went to a tiny bar called Not Suspicious, a slim hallway of a joint near the Asakusa district’s Hoppy Dori gastro-nightlife area. The owner was tending bar. She struck a bubbly, friendly tone, encouraging an intimate party atmosphere, like a small gathering of boisterous friends. The walls were layered with knickknacks and hand-drawn notes from customers. From the small selection of whisky bottles on display, I chose Dake Kanba.
The bar owner told me Dake Kanba is sold primarily on Hokkaido, the northern most of the Japanese islands, with only a limited number of bottles released to mainland Japan. Smooth, rich, and comfortingly smoky, I enjoyed it very much. Had it not been my last night in Japan, I’d have put in some effort to track a bottle down. But I did find an online shop, Dekanta, that had it in stock and would ship it after me. This meant I way overpaid above what I would have done had I found a bottle on the shelf. But nostalgia ain’t always cheap.
When the bottle arrived, however, it arrived in style. It was quite neatly wrapped for its long journey, with far greater care than any other online retailer from which I’ve purchased bottles. They also included an origami kit for fun, and a pair of white silky gloves for handling the bottle. The famed Japanese attention to hospitality that I’d experienced every day in Japan was on full display. So I guess in addition to nostalgia, I’d paid for that as well.
And was it worth it? Did I pay for a great whisky, or an overpriced souvenir from a great final night on a great trip to Japan? We’re about to find out.
But first a wee bit more on what this whisky is all about.
Hombo Shuzo Mars made Dake Kanba for Kokubu, a Japanese food wholesaler. Kokubu dates back to the Edo period, when Kanbei Kokubu V first set up a retail store, Daikokuya, at Nihonbashi-honcho in 1712. He sold Kimonos and brewed soy sauce. Much later, around 1880, the company shifted away from those to expand into a foodstuff-wholesaling operation, and has continued to grow in that area to today. Dake Kanba Whisky was commissioned by Kokubu’s Hokkaido branch, to be sold by them as a regional whisky special to the Hokkaido prefecture.
Shortly after my Japan trip, I attended a Hombo Shuzo Mars Whisky tasting at Bar Agricole in San Francisco. The distillery’s blender, Kunihiro Kawakami, was present, and I asked him about Dake Kanba. He said that in terms of what’s available in the US, Dake Kanbe would be most like their Maltage Cosmos series, focused on blending and finishing world malt whiskies. Maltage Cosmos debuted in 2015, when very few Japanese distilleries were being transparent about their sourcing and blending practices. The series helped to establish Hombo Shuzo Mars’ reputation for integrity and quality blending.
So what’s this whisky like?
Here we are, about forty-five minutes after uncorking and one pour into the bottle. These brief notes were taken after letting the whisky rest in the glass for thirty+ minutes, and using a traditional Glencairn.
COLOR – buttery, lemon, and honey yellows (very likely artificial color is involved)
NOSE – peach, baked nectarine, a light bitterness from oak tannin and sea salt, a whiff of wood smoke, a subtle plastic note
TASTE – the wood smoke wafts forward a bit more, along with both fresh and granulating honey, vanilla, the baked nectarine
FINISH – baked nectarine, a return of the bitter tannins and salt, a touch of the plastic element, drying honey, all lingering together warmly on a slow fade…
OVERALL – very like a mainstream mass-produced scotch, neither offensive nor special, and drinks easily if uneventfully
Well, I believe I’ve indeed paid quite dearly for a cheap souvenir. Without the fantastic atmosphere of Not Suspicious around me and a stimulating two weeks in Japan coming to a close, this whisky lacks distinction.
If you told me this was some honeyed Speyside mainstay, I’d believe you. At a friend’s home for dinner recently, I was presented with bottles of Glenlivet 12 Year Single Malt and Buchanan’s DeLuxe 12 Year Blended Whisky. This Dake Kanba takes me back to that Glenlivet most readily. But the plastic notes and very eager sweetness I can relate to any number of mass-produced Irish whiskeys or scotch, which rely on artificial color and vat hundreds of barrels together. The achievement is intentionally generic, designed for wide appeal.
It’s curious that Kokubu would commission a specialty whisky for a specific region of Japan, and settle for something so common and overtly Scottish. But I expect as a foods distributer, Kokubu’s interests are more in moving product than cultivating connoisseurship. That’s fair enough.
So, it’s the age old lesson about impulse buying and nostalgia. Bad combo. When I’m flush with excitement over a trip well tripped, that’s likely not a good time to plunk down $190 for anything. Sometimes the story behind a whisky does add to the experience and value. Here the story is just marketing. My story, of a wonderful trip to Japan, with a range of memorable experiences in cocktail bars and whisky hunting, doesn’t really need this bottle of Dake Kanba to help me remember it.
But I do see some perfectly great Highball cocktails in my future.
Kanpai!
Addendum
Uncorking pours can be misleading. Things often do shift as a bottle airs out. So about three and a half weeks after the uncorking tasting and halfway through the bottle, I sat down again to take another round of formal notes.
Now on the nose I get strong caramel and honey up front, then salt, honeydew melon, pear, a kind of stone fruit roll-up, a touch of oak tannin and plastic.
On the taste I get milk chocolate and caramel, fresh cream, salt and faint oak tannin.
The finish leads with mocha candies, followed by faint stone fruit roll-up etched with a thin line of oak tannin and plastic.
For whatever reason, the wood smoke is absent tonight. It’s been there for me on other nights. Even mixed into a Whiskey Sour that smoke note came through. But with this pour I’m mostly aware of the candy and dairy notes. As at uncorking, it’s good. It’s just very mainstream in its approach—no significant surprises or mysteries to ponder.
So it’s still not evidence in favor of impulse buys. But it ain’t bad.
Kanpai!
The Right Spirit 