Distiller Notes
Cooked fruit, blackberry, ripe banana, caramel on the nose, sandalwood, honeycomb, dried apricot and Mizunara (Japanese oak) on the palate, with a long rich finish and incense aroma.
Proof: 86
Professional Ratings
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Whisky Advocate
Deep layers of vanilla and mizunara oak with sugar sprinkled pastries, incense sticks, oiled wood, tatami, dried apricot, golden sultana, and faint smoky spiciness. Nectarous mouthfeel with honey, barley sugar, dried citrus, orange peel, and delicate spices, it continues to sweeten beautifully showing vanilla, sugared almonds, banana custard, with hints of ginger and gentle oak. Slightly gummy finish as the vanilla quenches little eruptions of wood 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.