Barley shochu aged three years in oak, from one of Kagoshima's oldest distillers. The closest thing Japan makes to a malt whisky.

Kannoko is written 神の河, which reads in the Kagoshima dialect as "river of the gods", after a stream in the south of the prefecture. It is made by Satsuma Shuzo, a Kagoshima distiller better known for its imo (sweet potato) shochu, who turned the same honkaku method to barley. Honkaku means the spirit is distilled once, in a single pass, so nothing stands between you and the raw character of the grain. What sets Kannoko apart is the wood. After distillation it rests around three years in oak casks, which is where the amber colour, the soft vanilla and the woody depth come from. Kagoshima is the heartland of Japanese shochu, and this is the distiller's barrel-aged statement piece.

What does Kannoko barley shochu taste like?

The first thing you notice is the nose: honey and vanilla, with a ripe note that drinkers often read as banana. On the palate it is rich and rounded rather than sharp, with the barley sitting underneath a clear layer of oak. The cask ageing gives it a warm, woody body that lands much closer to a mild bourbon than to a clean, modern shochu. The finish is long and gently sweet, with no harsh alcohol burn despite the 25% strength. If you have only ever tried light, watery shochu, this is the bottle that changes your mind. It rewards a slow pour and a little warmth.