Ki One: Korea's First Craft Single Malt, Aged in Oloroso

Korea has soju, and now it has single malt.

Three Societies is Korea's first craft single malt whisky distillery, and Ki One is what it makes.

The Distillery

Three Societies is in Namyangju, about forty minutes north of Seoul.

The name points at the setup: Scottish distilling expertise brought together with Korean production and a commitment to traditional method. That's the same formula Japan used a century ago, running again in a different country.

Batch 3

We pour the Oloroso sherry hogshead release, Batch 3.

It's a limited production run, aged over three years in Oloroso casks, and it took a Gold Medal at the 2024 World Whiskies Awards, which for a distillery this young is a serious result.

Hogsheads are worth a note. A hogshead is a cask rebuilt to around 250 liters, larger than a barrel and smaller than a butt. The size controls the surface-to-volume ratio, which controls how fast the wood works. It's a deliberate middle setting.

Nose: Dried ripe fruit, rich spice

Palate: Butterscotch, walnut, raisin, stewed plum

Finish: Lively, with apple, oak and spice

That's a properly sherried profile from a whisky barely old enough to be called whisky, which tells you something about how fast Korean summers work on a cask.

Why It's Here

Same reason as Kavalan and Kamet.

Whisky stopped being a Scottish product a long time ago, and the interesting work now happens in places with climates that make Scottish methods impossible. Korea, Taiwan, India and Japan are all solving that, and having them on one shelf makes each of them easier to understand.

How to Drink It

Neat. It's young and the sherry is doing a lot; water flattens it.

Pair It With

The dried fruit and nut character wants savory. Miso bacon, pork kakuni, yakiniku.

Try It at Juraku

Ki One is on the whisky list at Izakaya Juraku, Lower East Side, and available by the bottle.