Nose: Fermented pears, dried pears, green apples, apple sauce, barley sugar, lemon lozenges, bread dough, sawdust.
Palate: Big and fiery without water but doesn’t scream youth. With a fair hit of water, pear gummy bears, fermented pears, lemon sherbet, sawdust, lemon lozenges, nutmeg, apples sauce, whole meal, bran, corn flakes, cloves.
Finish: Lots of pear and cereal notes, with some pepper, cloves, barley sugar, nutmeg, corn oil.
Last Word: Tried this at TIBS/WhiskyLive Tokyo last year. Too many drams that day to form a strong opinion, so I’m happy to have been able to spend some time with a large sample of this one. I’d have to say that overall, this is a fine Chichibu and the quality belies it’s youth. If this was a Scottish whisky I’d think Glen Moray 12 with balls!
Rating: 86/100
*Thanks to Clint over at Whiskiesrus for the sample. You can read Clint’s review here.
Glad you enjoyed it Brian. Nice review, and interesting comparison with the Glen Moray.
Thanks Clint. I obviously enjoyed it a bit more than you did, but hey, that’s whisky. Glad to just be able to get some notes together as my sinuses have been playing up for over a month now.