Nose: Dry sherry, Japanese plums, candied orange glaze, brown sugar, Ron Zacapa XO Centenario, maple/golden syrup, nutmeg, tobacco, leather.
Palate: Mouth coating. Canned prunes, cantaloupe, high end coffee, strawberry glaze, pine, rhubarb, pipe tobacco, Bovril, chicken stock, oak(but just enough).
Finish: Long, powerful, balanced and complex with most of the flavors on the palate.
Last Word: I’d love a bottle.
Rating: 93/100
These distillery exclusive bottles are pretty amazing.. How I would love to be able to go to Yoichi once a year to buy these bottles… If only it was closer to Tokyo! Anyway, one of my favorites from the distillery store is also sherried cask (15yo) and it is pretty much I-need-to-be-alone-and-close-my-eyes orgasmic every time I have it. Hell, even their 5 yo’s are damn serious… Most of the bottles need a bit of water I think. Did you guys need to add water to bring out the flavors in this 25 yo?
No notes about water, so as far as I ‘remember’, I didn’t. Not sure if Clint did. We actually tasted an equally amazing Yoichi 10YO Single Cask at the same bar, but was so engrossed in being blown away by it I couldn’t be bothered writing notes. That one was bottled back in 2001 which makes it one extremely rare Yoichi.
This for me was one of those malts that left lush aftertastes for days to come, regardless of extreme hangover effects from copious amounts of highballs before hand.
Hehe,
Was one hell of night Clint. To be repeated at a later date!
Looking forward to it Brian. Cheers.