Nose: Christmas pudding, demerara rum, chocolate, coffee grinds, red apple skins, mixed peel, all spice. Pretty much as expected though it’s not a potent nose.
Palate: Way more punch than the nose. A mix of sweet and savory spices. blackcurrant jols, raisins, barbeque shapes, sweet red apples, dark chocolate, peanut brittle, touch of menthol, a fair whack of drying oak and the typical Hakushu earthiness.
Finish: Raisins, peanut brittle, demerara rum, earthiness, menthol and oak.
Last Word: Solid sherry cask matured whisky I personally prefer the richness of Yamazaki’s efforts for these yearly NAS sherry cask whiskies over the dry/earthiness of Hakushu’s.
Rating: 87/100
*Sample courtesy of Clint at Whiskies R Us
A solid review as always, Brian. Personally, I preferred the 2013 version over this one. I got quite a lot of balsamic vinegar flavours on the nose that seemed to go well with the sweet (sherry) notes of the palate, but in the end the 2013 bottling seemed better balanced.
Thanks Pierre. I just went and checked out my notes for the 2013 and see I gave it the same score. I don’t have an open bottle of the 2013 at the moment( 1 closed), so can’t do a quick side by side. Seems I’ve liked the 2012 the most. I do have an open bottle of 2012 so might revisit and see if those impressions remain.
Cheers
Brian