Spirits · Hitoyoshi, Kumamoto
Fukano Distillery
A seven-generation Kumamoto distillery aging 100% rice spirit into whisky.
- Founded
- 1823
- Based in
- Hitoyoshi, Kumamoto
Making it since
1823
Their story
Fukano Distillery sits in Hitoyoshi, a town on the Kuma River in Kumamoto Prefecture on the island of Kyushu. The family has run it since 1823, and Seiichi Fukano is now the seventh generation in charge.
His mother, Chizuru Fukano, was a pioneer of aging shochu in barrels in the region. That work led to the distillery's best-known bottles today, small releases of whisky made entirely from rice.
How it's made
The mash combines malted rice, unmalted rice and koji rice with water from the Kuma River, followed by a 21-day fermentation. It is distilled once in stainless steel pot stills, then aged in new and used charred oak, sherry and wine casks in a dunnage-style warehouse. Only a few casks are bottled each year.
Why we carry them
We reach for Fukano when someone wants to try something truly different in Japanese whisky. The rice base gives it a soft, clean character that stands apart from malt whiskies.
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