Distiller Notes
Kaiyo Cask Strength extremely smooth with great complexity and a lovely balance of fruit, silky malt, and a touch of dark chocolate.
Professional Ratings
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Whisky Advocate
Fully matured in mizunara oak on land and sea, this has tangy orange, ground ginger, fennel seed, cedar, and incense, though it seems a little more tightly wound than the standard strength whisky. Juicy orange, quick firecracker spices, and more toffee sweetness; it becomes heavy and thick, flaunting high alcohol, then turns creamier with marzipan, orange Jell-O, and singed oak spices.
Sharing a great deal with Scotch in terms of production methods and ingredients, today’s hugely successful commercial market of Japanese Whisky owes much to the research of Masataka Taketsuru. In 1918, this Japanese national travelled to Scotland with the intention of studying organic chemistry but instead became fascinated with Scotch Whisky production. Similar to Scotch Whisky, Japanese Whisky also uses malted barley as the fermentation base and long-term aging in wooden barrels. However, the often-used Mizunara oak, rather than French or American oak, imparts uniquely spicy and citrus-like characteristics to a Japanese Whisky.