Kanosuke (嘉之助), the Kagoshima distillery best known abroad for its single malt, will launch an everyday blended whisky on November 27, 2026. Kanosuke Mellow Blend (嘉之助メローブレンド) is a blended Japanese whisky made entirely from spirit distilled by the Komasa (小正) family’s own two sites, and it will be part of the permanent range rather than a limited edition. Komasa Kanosuke Distillery announced the release on October 6. It matters because it is priced at 4,235 yen including tax, well below the distillery’s single malts, and because few of Japan’s young craft distilleries have so far released a fully home-distilled blend at an everyday price.
What is in the bottle
The blend combines two kinds of whisky. The main component, according to the company, is an Irish-style pot still whisky made from unmalted barley and malted barley and distilled in single pot stills at Hioki Distillery (日置蒸溜蔵), the family’s shochu distillery. Kanosuke says it draws on more than 140 years of shochu-making experience to produce this spirit, which it describes as having toasty barley, a rich cereal character and a fresh, pear-like fruitiness. That is then blended with malt whisky from Kanosuke distillery itself, which brings, in the company’s words, a more floral fruit character and depth.
The specifications are simple. Mellow Blend is bottled at 43% ABV in a 700ml bottle, with a suggested retail price of 3,850 yen before tax. The ingredients listed are barley and malt only. It will be sold through liquor stores, bars and restaurants across Japan, and the company states that it complies with the labeling standard for Japanese whisky set by the Japan Spirits & Liqueurs Makers Association (日本洋酒酒造組合) in 2021. No production volume was given, which is consistent with a permanent rather than limited release.
The company is clearly positioning it as a highball and food whisky. Its official notes describe apricot, banana chips, cinnamon and milk chocolate on the nose, melon cream soda and chamomile on the palate, and a finish with a light mint note that it links to the sea breeze off Fukiagehama (吹上浜) beach. It recommends serving it with plenty of ice and soda, alongside anything from yakitori to Italian or Chinese food. Those are Kanosuke’s descriptions; we have not tasted the whisky.
Where it fits internationally
The announcement covers Japan only, and there is no word yet on exports. Kanosuke’s core range, including the flagship Kanosuke Single Malt, the Hioki pot still single grain and Kanosuke Double Distillery, is already distributed in the UK and the US, as we note in our Kanosuke distillery guide. Mellow Blend sits below all three in price, and it is the first Kanosuke product the company has framed around casual, everyday drinking rather than the premium end of the market.
Why this matters
Most Japanese craft distilleries founded in the 2010s face the same problem: they have good single malt, but not enough mature stock to sell a cheap, consistent everyday whisky. Many fill that gap with “world blends” that include imported whisky, which cannot be labeled Japanese whisky under the 2021 standard. Our explainer on what “world blended whisky” means in Japan covers why that matters to buyers. Kanosuke can avoid that route for one structural reason: it owns two distilleries. The shochu side gives it pot still capacity that a single-site malt distillery does not have, and Irish-style pot still whisky can be made in volume from unmalted barley, which typically costs less to produce than all-malt spirit.
This also follows the family’s history closely. In 1957 the second-generation head of the business, Kanosuke Komasa, released Mellowed Kozuru (メローコヅル), described by the company as Japan’s first cask-aged rice shochu. His grandson Yoshitsugu Komasa (小正芳嗣), now president and master blender, founded the whisky distillery in 2017 near the dunes of Fukiagehama, and the house style has been built on transferring shochu fermentation, distillation and cask know-how into whisky. A blend led by shochu-distillery pot still spirit is the most direct expression of that idea so far. Komasa also notes that Kanosuke reaches the 10th anniversary of its first distillation in 2027, and calls Mellow Blend the start of the distillery’s next decade.
For the wider industry, a fully home-distilled blend at around 4,000 yen is a useful marker. It suggests that at least some of the new generation of distilleries now have enough stock to compete on price with the big producers, not only on rarity. If you want the broader picture of where that stock comes from, our guide to Japanese grain whisky explains how different grain and pot still spirits are used in blends.
For readers outside Japan
For now, Mellow Blend is a Japan release. If you are visiting from November 27, look for it at liquor stores and bars nationwide; Kagoshima is the obvious place to start, and our Kagoshima whisky trail report links the prefecture’s distilleries into one trip. The distillery itself sits on the coast in Hioki, a short drive from Kagoshima City, and tours require a reservation.
If you are at home in the US or UK, the closest available alternative is Kanosuke’s own Double Distillery, which already combines spirit from both family sites, or the Hioki pot still whisky if you want to understand the Irish-style component on its own. Ask specialist retailers before assuming a bottle is in stock, since availability varies by market. For other affordable Japanese bottles you can actually buy abroad, see our list of Japanese whisky under $100 and our guide to the Japanese whisky highball, the serve Kanosuke has in mind. Elsewhere in Kagoshima, the Mars Tsunuki distillery is another southern Japanese malt worth knowing. Kanosuke has also produced single cask bottlings for specialist partners, a reminder that the distillery works at both ends of the market.
Source: Kyodo News PR Wire via Akita Sakigake Shimpo / Komasa Kanosuke Distillery (Japanese)