There are liquor shops and then there are dedicated whisky shops. Arguably one of the best and biggest shops in Motomachi, a district of Kobe, KOROSUE is on the forefront of meeting everyone’s needs. Whether you prefer single malt, grain whisky, corn rye, blended whisky, or bourbon this shop stocks the lot from a variety of nations. At any given time there can be a variety of up to 500 whiskies available, in particular single malts.
For the purist, KOROSUE stock an array of Scotch and Japanese single malt whiskies. Anything from standard, independent, vintage, to limited edition bottlings can be found here at a reasonable and competitive price. One of my personal top three favourite stores in the city of Kobe, KOROSUE, on the majority of occasions have in stock a particular malt I’m looking for.
Mr. Murakami, one of the staff members at KOROSUE has an extensive knowledge and welcomes any questions one would want to ask, in particular relating to Japanese malt.
If you’re in the area it is my absolute recommendation to take a look regardless whether you have any intentions to make a purchase or not (though I guarantee you most likely will). I’m forever spending a good half an hour every time I go in and the guys never seem to mind. If you have the opportunity to head in this month, the store has a display of Suntory bottlings that include Hakushu's "Heavily Peated" and "Bourbon Barrel" expressions as well as Yamazaki's 'Puncheon'.
5 minutes by foot from the JR Motomachi station. Walk out the east exit of the station and turn right, walk parallel to the tracks on the left hand side.
Closed
Sundays / Public holidays
Business hours
11:00AM~9PM
Telephone
078-331-0857
I think Korosue is fabulous shop for the whisky lover of Kobe!
ReplyDeleteI also sometimes go there.
I am certainly having my eyes opened to the extent of the Whisky scene in and around Osaka. Keep em coming Clint, I could base a whole holiday around this info.
ReplyDeleteWill do my best to keep em coming. There are quite a few good establishments in Kansai that I dare say are hidden, so it's my pleasure to introduce them.
ReplyDeleteHi Clint, this was my last stop on today's tour. They stocked the Yamazaki 2011 sherry cask and puncheon versions, as well as the Hakushu Heavily Peated. Unfortunately, they don't accept credit cards, which left me pretty much stranded. I left the shop empty-handed but will go back another time. All in all, a cute little shop with an excellent selection of whiskies!
ReplyDeleteI just replied to one of your previous comments suggesting Korosue. Good to hear you made it there. I have previously written about korosue having the Heavily Peated Hakushu in stock. Last time I heard they only had a few bottles left, it is unfortunate that they do not accept credit cards. Thanks for sharing that information so others can keep that in mind. Did you do all these by train Pierre W? There are at least 3 more stores I can recommend if you are in Kobe for longer?
ReplyDeleteClint, I did yesterday's tour by train and bus. This worked out very well for me. By the way, another thing that intrigued me was that none of the shops stocked any of Akuto Ichiro's whiskies (be it single malts or blended whiskies), even though they are readily available in larger department stores.
ReplyDeleteThat's a good effort Pierre, especially to get all the way down to Pardon's Kobe Nishi-Ku store. You mentioned you are from Switzerland in another comment, what is the situation with Japanese whisky there in regards to availability. When I was in Zurich a good while back now, I never came across any. Mind you at that time I was not looking for it.
ReplyDeleteAs for Ichiro expressions there a two possibilities that I can see, as you may be aware, things like the card series are quite collectable so to speak so when a majority of shops do get anything like that in they tend to go quick, another reason is that there is not a lot of stock to really go around now hence it not being readily available in a lot of store. A good example would be Ichiro's Malt The First and Ichiro's Malt and Grain, the Hankyu department store in Umeda only had 3 bottles of each to sell to the pubic due to the demand. Another reason is demographics I guess, for example if Pardon had a few bottle of something from the Card Series, those bottles may have sat on the shelf without turning over because of the customers taste (drinking preference/price)in the area. I will ask the guys at Korosue and Pardon when I'm there next to get their answer and let you know Pierre. Appreciate you reading the posts and using them throughout your journey in west Japan.
ReplyDeleteHi Clint, just checking in to ask if you have done any whisky shopping in the Kansai area lately. As you can imagine I would love to join you on one of your forays. I also noticed that I never replied to your question regarding the availability of Japanese whisky in Switzerland. We are actually quite lucky: There are two specialty shops in and near Zurich that I regularly visit, and they do stock the core range of Yamazaki, Hakushu, Yoichi, Miyagikyo and even Akashi (except for the 12 yo). For those with (very) deep pockets there even are vintage expressions of Karuizawa to obtain. What they do not have are special expressions such as Yamazaki Bourbon Barrel or Hakushu Heavily Peated. So we are quite well off, but still: nothing beats a day of whisky shopping in Japan!
ReplyDeleteHi Pierre, good to hear from you. Funny you should ask, last Wednesday I went to another little retailer in Motomachi, not too far Korosue. I used to go there to buy scotch back in the day, until now I have not considered to blog about the place as they had a very bland selection of Japanese whiskies. However, on my recent visit they had a few gems which I hope to write about as soon as my work load decreases. So please keep an eye out for that post as well as an entry on a very interesting bar. Please do sing out when you are in the area again.
ReplyDelete