Nose: Icing sugar, lemon, mandarin, vanilla, pepper, banana, cream corn.
Palate: Fried banana, mandarin, butter, vanilla, pepper, almonds.
Finish: Mandarin, butter and a little pepper.
Last Word: The most “Imperial” thing about this blended whisky is the lovely decanter style bottle it comes in. Beyond that it is a fairly simple offering.
Rating: 78/100
Nose: Cream sherry, raspberries, orange jus, marmalade, pine nettles, burnt popcorn, apricot jam, a little of the Hanyu earthiness.
Palate: There is a richness to the mouth feel and flavors. The cream sherry, Valencia oranges, raisins, peanut butter, rye, menthol, mild chili flakes.
Finish: Shortish on cream sherry, Valencia oranges, menthol, earthy.
Last Word: A more than decent Oloroso sherry butt with no off notes or flavors. Don’t expect to be blown away however for the 4 to 5 grand you will need to buy one.
Rating: 87/100
A question I have often been asked is how many casks of Karuizawa are left. Not an easy question to answer accurately up until now. Eric Huang one of the men behind salvaging the remaining casks of Karuizawa reveals the number and the final release date in a recent article in Forbes online here. I won’t bother quoting or paraphrasing as it’s just better to read the article for accuracy sake. It will also be of curiosity value only to most people including myself who have not been able or willing to buy a bottle of Karuizawa for years due to the exorbitant prices.
Nose: Apple pie, sweet corn, white pepper, honey, vanilla, toffee, sawdust.
Palate: Baking spices, apple danish, salt, sweetened lemons, fresh ginger, white pepper, banana, sawdust, raisins.
Finish: Banana, apple danish, white pepper, sawdust.
Last Word: This is a blend of Chichibu Single Malt Whisky and grain whisky from unknown distilleries outside of Japan. Certainly a step up from the Ichiro’s Malt & Grain White Label but lets compare it to someone Japanese fully homegrown blends. I paid 9000 yen for the Ichiro’s Premium in Japan. At the moment in Japan you can buy Nikka Premium Blend 12YO for around Y5000 and Nikka Whisky From The Barrel Y2500 and IMO both are superior. Suntory Hibiki Harmony Masters Select(travel exclusive)for roughly Y9000 and again I wouldn’t hesitate to say superior the Ichiro’s hybrid blend.
Rating: 82/100
Nose: Honey, treacle, dried pears, apricot jam, Brandy, ginger ale, orange peel, earthy peat, lemon cough drops, charred twigs. Shows a level of maturity that belies the young age.
Palate: Some nice spiciness mostly nutmeg, salt and pepper. Cocoa, vanilla, almond flakes, butter, lemon meringue, earthy peat, coconut water. Adding a little water brings out tangy orange and peanut butter.
Finish: Nutmeg, almond flakes, lingering cashew nuts and with water the peanut butter.
Last Word: A very solid young whisky. I could envisage a few friends polishing off a bottle in a session. I’d call it user friendly. 46%abv seems spot on for this one.
Rating: 86/100 87/100(for the age)
*Did the notes up yesterday but today in a different glass, different time of day and different drink(iced berry & kale smoothie) before hand, this one is coming off as far more medicinal on the palate. Just something else to look out for.
Nose: Notes of toasted oak, toffee, dry earth, steel, mild wood stain, cloves and dried papaya. Can’t say it’s particularly bold or expressive and the sherry influence is non existent to my nose. Color is orange rather than the dark cherry you will see in many sherry cask matured whiskies. Very mild at 62.5%abv.
Palate: 62.5% certainly reveals itself on the palate. For a moment there’s quite some juicy fruit flavors though more like you would get in fruit candies/lollies. After that hotter elements like chili take over though they also fade fast followed by the earthy flavor, also dried pears and papaya, nutmeg, roasted chestnut and Manuka honey. Adding water actually brings the hotter elements forward in the mix and they also hang on longer so not recommended for my palate.
Finish: Metallic minerals, peanut butter and a charred element. Fades quickly.
Last Word: It’s Ok but certainly would not buy it at current prices. Also, where’s the sherry influence!? Would take a bottle of Nikka WFTB over this any day.
Rating: 81/100
If you missed it a bottle of Yamazaki 50 Year Old Single Malt Whisky sold for a record price at Auction on January 30 for US$299,000. The auction was held by Sotheby’s Hong Kong. The previous record for a single bottle of Japanese whisky was also held by a bottle of Yamazaki 50YO sold at auction in October 2016 for US$129,000. After having followed the whisky auction scene for a while I can safely say it if you want absolute top dollar, Hong Kong is the place to sell. It is certainly bolstered by the burgeoning Asian whisky scene. The problem I found however was that when I approached a certain auction house in HK to sell some of my whisky they did not accept consignments from outside of HK. The whisky had to already be in country. Not sure if this is the same for all the auction houses in HK.
When first released in 2011 the bottle price was around US$9,200 which although it looks like a bargain now, lets face it, this was a bottle for the wealthy from the get go.
There were a couple of bars in Japan back in 2011 where you could try this for Yen 90,000 a shot or about US$850.
For years now a number of people on various whisky forums have speculated about the demise of Japanese Whisky. Just a fad, too overpriced(maybe it is but it hasn’t diminished it’s rise) and for a number of narrow minded people if it isn’t made in Scotland it can’t be whisky or at least not good whisky.
Japanese whisky has proved to be resilient on the pricing front and it’s popularity has gone from strength to strength.
*Note: We may have seen some marginal average price drops on bottling’s from the likes of Hanyu and Karuizawa over the last year but this is normal when the number of different bottling’s have increased. Prices of the most prized bottling’s are still on the up.
Nose: Apricots, dried pears, barley, lemon sherbet, vanilla, wood spice, ash.
Palate: Barley, dried pears, smoke, salt, ginger, spearmint, lemons, oregano, oak. Mouth feel it light and crisp. Water brings out almonds and thickens the body a little.
Finish: Minerals, lemon, icing sugar, spearmint, ash.
Last Word: Easy drinking, no off notes, not particularly bold or complex and comes off a little younger that 10 years old.
Rating: 82/100
Nose: Cantaloupe, honeydew melon, fresh cut timber, pears, white grapes, white peaches, honey. Water brings out a heather note.
Palate: Honey, sweet baking spices, vanilla, pears, lychee, bakers yeast, the cantaloupe and honeydew melon combo and chili powder. The chili powder hits quite hard within a few seconds so prefer this with H2O. Water also adds cashews and a buttery mouth feel.
Finish: Fades quite quickly on some trailing cantaloupe, lychee and menthol.
Last Word: Rich, not so sure, fruity…..definitely!.
Rating 84/100
In the 2017 there were 428 comments by contributors for the Buying Japanese Whisky in Japan Report thread. A mighty effort especially from a small number of very active posters. My personal thanks to those guys.
In 2017 there were also 22,500 views of this thread so be in no doubt this post and the advice given is greatly valued by readers of TJWR. I should add that there were 12,000 views of the 2016 report during that 2017 as well.
So to our regular contributors and anyone else who wants to jump on board, I look forward to reading about your experiences of buying Japanese Whisky in Japan 2018!
Kampai
Brian AKA Dramtastic
Nose: This is Heavily Peated Whisky by Japanese standards. If you have tried any of the Chichibu ‘standard’ peated bottling’s, this is peated to at least that level but the Mars peat is much earthier. Dried mushrooms, bay leaves, ripe apricot, honeycomb, oregano, antiseptic, lemon, vanilla. Water ups the vanilla.
Palate: Ok, on the palate this is flat our heavily peated. Ash, antiseptic, lemon cough drops. diesel, earthy peat. Charred oak, salt, marzipan, vanilla. Quite oily as witnessed by the legs that draw down the glass slower than a snail. Cucumber water. More than acceptable without water even at 59%abv. With a little water the marzipan gets louder as does the vanilla and adds some zingy lemon sherbet. A few drops more and we have breath mints and almonds.
Finish: Satisfyingly long, the oiliness continues to coat the mouth. Ash, diesel, antiseptic, lemon, almonds and vanilla.
Last Word: I remember when I bought a couple of different new make Mars peated whiskies a number years back. The quality of the distillation and the balance of the peat spoke of the promise of great things to come. That promise has been fulfilled. Fantastic at 3 years I can only imagine what a 10YO will be like. Highly recommended!
Rating: 89/100
Nose: A medley of dried fruits made up of apricots, papaya, pears and dates. Quince jam, old leather chairs, pepper, cloves, hint of vanilla, eucalyptus, camphor, charred oak and candied orange slices. Water adds lime water and brandy snaps. Could nose this all day long!
Palate: A bowl of mixed nuts, an earthy element, camphor, menthol, ginger, paprika, the candied orange slices, hoisin sauce. With water we have the quince jam, dates and dried papaya.
Finish: Cloves, pepper, menthol, dried tobacco leaves, salted dark chocolate and cocoa.
Last Word: Another cracking Yoichi 10YO Single Cask Whisky. Can find no reason why this would have needed a single day longer in the barrel!
Rating: 90/100
Nose: Banana mouse, brandy, blueberries, toffee, steamed corn cob, apricots, maple syrup, hint of orange, bay leaves.
Palate: Paprika, oregano, chili powder, chocolate coated coffee beans, mashed banana’s, blueberries, toffee, old leather, dried tobacco leaves.
Finish: Oregano, pepper, dried tobacco leaves, fried banana, pineapple, bay leaves.
Last Word: The mainly sweet nose belies the herbaceous palate and finish that follows. A very smooth and approachable blended whisky, there should still be enough flavor and complexity to satisfy many. A little bit of Yoichi peated whisky in the mix to add a smoky element would not have gone astray.
Rating: 86/100
Update: With a little over a third of the bottle gone there is now some obvious Yoichi smokiness coming through. Add a point.
Nose: Honey, toffee, white grapes, white peaches, Rose(wine), pink grapefruit, dried pears. Water adds a floral note of heather.
Palate: Savory spices, puff pastry, raisins, Rose(wine), pink grapefruit. Quite prickly on the palate without water. With water more of the pastry, heather honey, pepper, apples, macadamias and the dried pears.
Finish: Puff pastry, baking spices, heather honey, apples, Rose(wine) and a little drying wood.
Last Word: To get the best out of this I diluted to about 40-43%abv. Probably different to most of the Japanese whiskies you might have tasted, I’d say more Scottish in style(yes I know there are a ton of different Scottish Whisky Styles). I quite like it after a liberal dash of water is added.
Rating: 84/100
Nose: The IPA cask influence shows it’s hand straight off the bat. Some maltiness and very hoppy/fruity. There is a dustiness like dust covered old oak barrels. Orange peel, peach skin and yeast. Incense which grows stronger with water.
Palate: Lots of malt and hops. Some big hot spices. The dry dustiness, orange peel on the verge of going moldy, sugared grapefruit. Water adds salt, lemon zest and citrus tart. For mine water is a must with this whisky to subdue the hot spices which are a little out of balance and to add some nuance.
Finish: Fairly short on the malt and hoppy/fruity flavors.
Last Word: The casks first contain Chichibu whisky, then refilled with IPA beer from a number of different IPA craft breweries before being refilled with Chichibu whisky for finishing.
The Chichibu quality is there but the final product is extremely cask forward in profile and for my tastes maybe a little too much so. Almost like a novelty whisky.
Rating: 85/100
Offered for sale for the first time is a full set of 58 bottles of Ichiro’s Malt Card Series as part of Sotheby’s Hong Kong Finest and Rarest Wine Auction this Friday and Saturday 29-30th of September.
For those who are trying to figure out how a deck of cards is 58 it’s not. Just so happens that back in the day Ichiro Akuto bottled and sold a about a quarter of the whisky from 4 different single casks then later bottled and sold the rest of the whisky from these casks. The casks used became the Ace of Spades, the Queen of Hearts, the King of Diamonds and the Jack of Clubs hence double bottling’s of these cards and the total number in the series as 58.
Price guide for the full set of Ichiro’s Malt Card Series is from a ridiculously low US$256,000 to US$512,000.
As a set of 54 cards without the 4 doubles sold at auction a couple of years ago for US480,000 I personally expect the upper range of the price guide to not only be reached but exceeded.
So if your a wealthy whisky collector here is a rare opportunity, for the rest of us we have a few days to win the lottery.
**Update: Lot sold for US$455,000 so it seems prices have stabilized or even declined a little.
Nose: Cinnamon coated Danish apple pastry, apricot jam, ginger bread, toffee’d oak, pouch tobacco. A salty maritime not like fresh shellfish. After a while a floral note, even more so with water added.
Palate: OK, while there is some big spicy punch on the palate there is zero burn on the way down which speaks of quality distillation. There is the Danish apple pastry, Krispy Kreme original glazed donuts. The spices are a cross between baking spices of cinnamon and nutmeg and some ginger and pepper heat. The peppery spice then mixes in with some salt. Water brings out Maltesers and tangy orange.
Finish: Starts out with the the salt and pepper combo, nutmeg, Maltesers, then leather and pouch tobacco. This finish is loooooong, the pepper and salt bounces back after 5 minutes with a vengeance with just enough toffee/malt to balance. A Yoichi like Chichibu in many ways. Impressive!
Last Word: This is the most complex Chichibu I’ve tried and amazingly so for only 6 years old. My new favorite Chichibu! Recommended!
Rating: 90/100
There has been plenty of posts from different websites over the last week or so about the Yamazaki Mizunara Cask 2017 18YO. The basics are 1500 bottles at 48%abv. 200 of the bottles were offered in a lottery by Suntory in Japan only. The winners received their notification 2 days ago though of course it was no freebie. If you won you still had to pay the Japanese price of Yen108,000 or about USD$1000. No doubt the lottery was well oversubscribed. I would suggest that most of the remaining 1300 bottles will be offered to bars. Official release date is the 3rd of October. I have only seen one online retailer advertising this so far and they are already asking US$3300 for a bottle!!!
Anyway moving on from a bottling that will be nothing more than a unicorn for most people to something a little more relevant. Nikka is releasing some Limited Edition No Age Statement bottling’s. There will be Moscatel Wood Finished and Rum Wood Finished versions from both Miyagikyo and Yoichi bottled at 46%abv.
There will be 3500 bottles of each version. Something I find a little bit odd is that the Moscatel Wood Finished bottling’s will be Japan only releases and the Rum Wood Finished bottling’s will be Europe/US releases. No doubt the Japanese version will be available a little ways down the track on the secondary market either online retailers or auction.
According to the official website the RRP for the Japanese bottling’s is Yen15,000 released on the 26th of September and 2 separate pricing regimes for the Europe/US bottling’s. In Europe they will be offered as the set of 2 at a RRP of Euro395 and in the US as single bottles for US$190 with a release date sometime in November. Europe and Japan bottling’s will be 700ml and the US version 750ml.
Nose: At 43%abv it’s no heavy hitter but elegant and complex. Dark cherries, roasted chestnuts, raisins, vanilla, Valencia oranges, nutmeg, red grapes, a waxy note, Cherry Ripes, subtle oak, brandy snaps.
Palate: Faithfully follow’s the nose for the most part but the oak is definitely firmer. There is also cloves and old leather. Water brings out sultana’s, mint milk chocolate, red berries and cocoa powder. The fruit flavors are nice and juicy.
Finish: Medium length on mint milk chocolate, menthol, nutmeg, oak and cocoa.
Last Word: High quality and classy blend with classic Suntory Sherry Cask matured whisky elements wrapped up in a elegant package. I’ll add that in reality much darker in color than the photo which is heavily backlit.
Rating: 92/100
Nose: Raisins, stewed apples, figs, malt, marzipan, wood chips, rhubarb stalks, orange peel.
Palate: Malt, stewed apples with custard, marzipan, nougat, mixed herbs, chili, yeast, orange peel. Water adds camphor, butter and candied nuts.
Finish: Quite herbaceous, orange peel, camphor and fresh cream.
Last Word: A nicely constructed, smooth blend and worth a punt if you can get it at a decent price. This was bottled for Japanese department store chain Isetan.
Rating: 85/100