Nose: Fruity and Malty. Apricots, nectarines, rhubarb, white grapes. The expected vanilla and toffee. Dusty virgin White Oak barrels. An amazing lack of strong acetone notes for one so young. A flower like perfume note, some nutmeg spice and white pepper. If you think your nasal passages are going to be blown apart by a cask strength new make whisky guess again, not with this one!
Palate: It’s initially very punchy with a strong attack of wood spices. Some licorice/licorice oil, pepper, chili flakes. Tends to mellow out over time with Fuji pears, lychees, salted cashews and sugared pie crust. Sit with this for an hour and the palate gets better and better with each sip.
Finish: Initially peppery, then moves to sweeter notes of vanilla and almonds, followed by agave and yeast.
Last Word: I don’t usually mention color but this 8 months old new make has a fabulous golden hew that any 12 year old whisky matured in White Oak casks would be proud of! And yes, this is non chill filtered, non colored.
My impression at 8 months is that this could be a killer whisky at even 3-4 years! The most impressive Japanese New Make ‘Whisky’ I’ve tasted since Chichibu’s New Born Heavily Peated 2009.
Exiting Stuff!
Kanosuke Distillery Website
Rating: 85/100