Nose: Mixed nuts, toffee, apricots, peaches, malt. Quite a light nose.
Palate: Mixed nuts, peanut butter, ginger, cola, oak, leather, a little rhubarb, menthol. Oily mouth feel.
Finish: Short on the mixed nuts, peanut butter, leather, rhubarb and menthol.
Last Word: The quality of the spirit is there no doubt. Nothing cheap or nasty about it though it’s not particularly complex. This whisky has a big problem though, it’s not very Yoichi. Where’s the peat, the maritime notes and flavors, the lovely smoke that magically appears after a number of seconds then rolls around the palate and compliments the usual stone fruits? Doesn’t have that bubblegum thing that’s often found in Nikka/Yoichi whisky either. Come on Nikka, if this is going to be the staple Yoichi single malt for the foreseeable future, lovers of Yoichi whisky deserve a whisky that truly represents the style we have come to expect from that great distillery.
Rating: 80/100 as a single malt whisky, 78/100 as a Yoichi whisky
Hi Brian, I finally managed to put together proper tasting notes of this one:
The nose is quite light and thin. Flavours of honey, grapefruits and lemons come to the fore, together with a touch of balsamic vinegar. I also got notes of nuts and cereal. Hmm, where is the peat?
The palate is light-bodied and smooth. Now there are oranges and more lemons, mingling with soft wood spice and more nuts. At the end I detected a whiff of menthol.
The finish is of medium length and pleasantly mouth watering. Lemon and nuts flavours are back, together with some menthol at the very end.
This reminded me of the Nick Offerman sketch “This is not Lagavulin!”. Never, ever would I detect this as a Yoichi in a blind tasting. Where has the subtle peat smoke gone, where are the adorable cinnamon and rubber flavours? This is not Yoichi! I give Nikka credit for bottling this at 45% ABV, and if it were not for the rather thin nose I would actually call this a pleasant single malt as both palate and finish were quite nice. Time will tell whether Nikka will be successful with this new standard expression – unfortunately, this does not work for me.
Thanks Pierre,
Appreciate you adding your tasting notes. The summary basically reflects my own thoughts and I’m sure many others. It’s not a Yoichi as we know it but really needs to become one in the near future if Nikka wished to keep fans loyal or not disappoint those you have read about the Yoichi style but go WTF when they taste this.
Regards
Brian
It is beginning…..the greedy suits running Nikka/Suntory will destroy the legacy that was actually quite short lived…Good NAS is fine, but this along with Hibiki Harmony is the beginning of the end (unless they wake up and see the error of their ways)…they will be the cause of the bubble bursting, perhaps it is too late.
Hi Brian, completely agree with your review. I had bought a 500ml bottle in Japan in October and we recently tried this at our whisky club together with the soon-to-be-gone Yoichi core range (specifically: 10yo, 15yo, 20yo). Let’s say that the new version came as a little bit of a shock to all of us, considering that this is so different from what you would expect from a Yoichi and the differences became all the more distinct when put in direct comparison with the older bottlings. All I can say is that this will not become a staple malt of mine.
Thank you Pierre.
I respect your opinion/experience and thank your for your direct comparison in regards to the discontinued Yoichi core range. Unfortunately I have ordered more 3 bottles so the Yoichi NAS and they are on their way to Australia with no way to return.
Brian
Thanks, Brian. Not a bad whisky as you rightly said, but then not something that you would expect a Yoichi to taste like either. I’ve got a bottle of the Miyagikyo, too, but it is still in Japan and I will pick it up in December.
Hi Pierre,
I have the same amount of bottles of Miyagikyo NAS on their way to Australia as well but have been far less disappointed with the NAS Miyagikyo. There are issues with the Miyagiyo as well but less than the Yoichi NAS. Really looking forward to your critique of the Yoichi NAS and hope you will post your thoughts on the Japanese Whisky Review.
Brian