G’day,
In my latest YouTube video here I review the Yoichi 2000’s Single Malt 57%abv. Never bought a bottle when they were released and hadn’t tasted up until now. After tasting do I now wish I’d bought a bottle? Is it better than the Miyagikyo 2000’s Single Malt? Let’s find out!
Kampai
Brian
Hi friends,
In this video I review the Yoichi Grande Single Malt 2022. Are these no age statement Nikka Whiskies worth the money being asked? How does this one stack up against other Nikka Special Editions? Lets find out!
Kampai
Brian
Nose: Fruity, malty, earthy. Dried pears, dried apples, orange peels, currants. Dusty oak, rhubarb, lemon juice, barley, vanilla. Even with the earth and oak there is a crispness to the nose. Almonds and more vanilla with water added.
Palate: Palate has some decent punch for 47%abv. Malt, dried apples, nutmeg, strawberry shortbread, almonds, hazelnuts. Heated copper and a touch of sulphur. Some pepper with water added. Medium bodied.
Finish: Oak, cacao powder, earth, vanilla pods. The finish starts on the short side but lengthens after a few sips. A little drier with water added.
Last Word: I was sceptical when I first heard about this release. A No Age Statement, Non-Peated Yoichi, whoop-de-do. Another overpriced novelty?
I’m not convinced it’s worth the price but, it’s a lot better than I expected and a decent step up from the standard No Age Statement Yoichi Single Malt. I suspect there is some long aged whisky in the blend.
Rating: 88/100
Nose: Grapefruit, varnish, apples, dried pears, lemons, tar, brine, damp earth. Doesn’t nose like there is a lot of older malt in the blend.
Palate: Blueberries, dark chocolate, Sara Lee Apple Danish, peat, damp earth, black currants, brine, oily mouth feel. Water brings out some of that multi-fruit breakfast juice. Medium Bodied.
Finish: Peat, coal, blueberries, menthol, ash, oak, tobacco leaf, tea tannins. The finish is longer, more citric and oilier with water added. In fact, it’s quite long indeed.
Last Word: Definitely has the Yoichi DNA and the Apple Brandy Wood Finish has no more than a very subtle influence!
Rating: 87/100
Nose: Sherry, oak, shoe polish, match box, grapefruit, apple core, peppermint.
Palate: Match box, coal fire, ash, hay, grappa, horse stables. For me quite a strange funk to the palate on not in an appealing way.
Finish: Grappa, horse stables or in general just farmy, boiled eggs. Quite bizarre.
Last Word: Every now and again a distilleries house style and the cask type clash. This is one of them and I would never recognise this as a Yoichi Whisky. Like the Miyagikyo Manzanilla Cask Finish my least favorite of those I’ve tasted in the series being inferior in my opinion to both the Moscatel and Port Wood finishes. I haven’t tasted too many duds from Yoichi but this is one and possibly the worst.
Rating: 76/100
Nose: Dates, ripe apricots, fudge, lemons, deck stain, red apples, pipe tobacco, leather, mushrooms, BBQ sauce.
Palate: Like the Miyagikyo version the Moscatel Wood finish is obvious but not overpowering. Figs, dates, raisins, Valencia oranges, cinnamon, nutmeg, cashews, toffee, white peaches. The fruitiness is a little richer than the Miyagikyo version. Strangely the Miyagikyo is more viscous/oily which is normally a feature of Yoichi Whisky.
Finish: Medium length. Red and green apples, Kiwi Fruit, the same charred oak and cinnamon bark as the Miyagikyo. The Yoichi is more tannic/dryer.
Last Word: There are plenty of similarities between the Yoichi and Miyagikyo Moscatel Wood Finish whiskies but enough differences to warrant having both. Both are well balanced and quite moreish.
Rating: 87/100
Nose: Earthy peat, damp forest floor, sugared lemons, salted poached pears, saddle bags, orange peels, balsamic, apricots, brine, sour dough, mint leaves, salted cashews, diesel fumes, lychee’s. No single element overwhelms.
Palate: The salted poaches pears. Salted caramel chews, nutmeg, cashews, mint chocolate, earthy peat, diesel, menthol, white grapes, pepper, lychee, lemon sherbet, oily. Very approachable at 63%abv.
Finish: Medium length. Nutmeg, mint chocolate, seaweed, lemon curd, diesel fumes, orange peels.
Last Word: Wonderfully harmonious and complex and as mentioned no single element overwhelms so each flavor and nuance is given it’s chance to shine. They could have name this Peaty, Salty, Fruity and Nutty. Bravo Yoichi!
Rating: 93/100
Note: As far as I know this is the only record of this bottling that exists and it’s a privilege for my local whisky group to be the proud owners of a bottle.
Nose: Dark cherries, raspberry dark chocolate, an old bar, cloves, old leather, charred oak barrels.
Palate: Baking spices, raisin toast, cherry chocolate, Turkish delight, cocoa, fruit tingles, menthol, ginger ale, salt.
Finish: Cocoa, menthol, salt, old whisky barrels, ginger, raspberry dark chocolate, Turkish delight and a hint of struck match.
Last Word: I always have high hopes for these sherry cask matured Yoichi Single Malts and this one doesn’t disappoint. Just a shame so few people will ever get to try one.
Rating: 90/100
Nose: Caramel salted popcorn, earthy peat, salted peanuts, mushrooms, fishing trawler diesel exhaust, marmalade, blueberries, vanilla.
Palate: Very salty, possibly the saltiest whisky I’ve tasted and no problem for me as a saltoholic. Peanut brittle, salted caramel chocolate, mushrooms, the earthy peat, mint chocolate biscuits, cola, nutmeg, pepper, seaweed. Water brings out vanilla and toasted marshmallows. Where the nose is reasonably soft/subtle, the palate is big and bold.
Finish: Heavily salted pork crackling, earthy peat, peanuts, ash, toasted marshmallows, mint jelly, seawater.
Last Word: Pretty much gives you all it has from the get go so don’t expect this to have many hidden treasures. One thing is for sure, I wish this was Yoichi’s standard NAS single malt instead of what they are currently bottling.
Rating: 88.5/100
Nose: Dusty oak barrels, old wardrobes, licorice, vanilla, peppermint, apricots, old leather satchel, cracked pepper, quince jam. A delight to nose and I would happily do so all day. A little water adds hints of toffee and tobacco leaf.
Palate: Tangy, luscious stone fruits, old leather, big salt, candy coated nuts, nutmeg, menthol, quince jam. Water reduces the salt and ups the quota of tangy apricot and quince jams.
Finish: Leather, menthol, mint, quince jam, cocoa powder.
Last Word: Another fantastic 10YO Single Cask Yoichi. Really a never fail in my experience.
Rating: An easy 90/100
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
Nose: Quite soft. Lemon, Raisins, mustard, ripe peaches, Arnott’s barbeque shapes, tobacco, sump oil, ash.
Palate: Ash, sump oil, burnt toast, tobacco, a little of that candy/bubblegum often found in Yoichi whisky. Also ginger ale, salt, cocoa and hot spices. Water neither adds or subtracts much in the way of flavors.
Finish: Drying on ash, tobacco and the hot spices.
Last Word: While not cheap tasting by any means this whisky is fairly one dimensional. Yes you can sift through and pick up some different flavors but the ash, sump oil and tobacco dominate. I’d still class it as lightly peated.
Rating: 80/100
Nose: Massively fruity! Nectarines, white peaches, dates, papaya, blackcurrants, leather, tobacco, a little oak and wood stain. Water adds toffee.
Palate: Again huge fruitiness. Nectarines, peaches, apricots, papaya. Leather, tobacco, toffee, pepper, wet forest logs. Water adds nougat, cherries and enhances the drier elements of tobacco and leather.
Finish: Long! The impression of the flavors lasted for 12 hours plus.
Last Word: I know at least a few readers have tried these Taradeshi Genshu(distillery only) 10 year olds and have been impressed. This one maintains that high standard.
Rating: 90/100
Nose: Deep earthy tones. Caramel popcorn, high end Cuban cigars, blueberries, mild peat, cloves, pepper, stewed rhubarb, nutmeg, ginger bread. All wrapped up in an elegant package.
Palate: Again very deep and rich. Incredibly complex. Chewy toffee and malt, cloves, Cuban cigars, leather, ginger bread, raisin toast, earthy peat, sweet peat, blueberries, nutmeg, some minerals, walnuts, papaya and a slight oiliness.
Finish: Follows on the flavors from the palate and lingers on and on with some lovely mouth coating oiliness. Extremely approachable even at 62%abv.
Last Word: This baby is rare and it was a privilege to taste it. One of the very best whiskies I’ve tried and the best 10YO whisky I have tasted. Almost a spiritual experience. Can’t see another 10YO topping this one.
Rating: 94/100
Nose: Pecan pie, stewed rhubarb, overripe peaches, orange liqueur, earthy sherry, luscious dried fruits, almond nugget. Water makes this more musty/earthy.
Palate: Nutmeg, almond nugget, tangy dried fruits, salt and pepper, drying oak. Water adds orange and enhances the tangy dried fruits.
Finish: Nugget, cocoa, dried fruits, nutmeg, earthy, a little ash and drying oak.
Last Word: Sherry and not that sweet.
Rating: 88/100
Nose: Dry sherry, Japanese plums, candied orange glaze, brown sugar, Ron Zacapa XO Centenario, maple/golden syrup, nutmeg, tobacco, leather.
Palate: Mouth coating. Canned prunes, cantaloupe, high end coffee, strawberry glaze, pine, rhubarb, pipe tobacco, Bovril, chicken stock, oak(but just enough).
Finish: Long, powerful, balanced and complex with most of the flavors on the palate.
Last Word: I’d love a bottle.
Rating: 93/100
Nose: Sherry, toffee, mango, red grapes. dates, blueberries, oak, brazil nuts, light peat.
Palate: Blueberries, rhubarb, cashews, toffee, raisins, nougat, menthol, fruit tingles and mouth coating peat. Smooth.
Finish: Sherry, nougat, cashews, toffee, smoke and long, lingering, mouth coating peat.
Last Word: Compared to my last bottle circa early 2011, this one has a big reduction in spirit caramel and hence a return to form. A knockout daily dram.
Rating: 88/100
Nose: Meaty. Gravy, beef stock/bovril. Toffee and tobacco. Heavily peated by Japanese standards. Sherry, soy sauce, cow hide, Betadine, pan seared scallops, grilled pork chops, yakitori chicken skin, eucalyptus, teak. Simply reeks of Japan. Yeh baby!
Palate: Stunning. Beef stock, chicken gravy, candied nuts, sherry, earthy and sweet peat. Honey lollipop, marshmallow, cinnamon, nutmeg, stewed rhubarb, peppermint, menthol, coal. Water brings out hot spices, prefer this one neat. Perfect mouth feel for my tastes.
Finish: Long! The sweet and peaty elements in perfect balance.
Last Work: Brilliant! More heavily peated Yoichi please Nikka.
Rating: 94/100
Nose: Very medicinal for a Japanese whisky. Bonfires from different woods. Malt, yeast, sea spray, moss, pie crust, stewed apples, butter menthols, overripe peaches.
Palate: Medicinal with a background sweetness to balance. Pineapple, toffee, preserved peaches, salt. Water tends to flatten this one.
Finish: Dry, but not a woody dryness, more ash/peat. Pineapple, bonfire, toffee, salt, pepper, vanilla.
Last Word: The most Islay Scotch like Japanese whisky I’ve tried but with underlying elements that are intrinsically Japanese in style.
Rating: 90/100
* Notes taken from a purchased sample.
Nose: Camphor, wood spice, stone fruits, peat, blackberries, icing sugar, oak, wine gums.
Palate: Earthy, mushrooms, toffee, peat camphor, coal. Water brings out candied bitter nuts, marshmallows and some big hot spices. Subtle it isn’t.
Finish: Medium length. A little fruit, bitter nuts, toffee and loads of coal/ash/smoke.
Last Word: A little too big and brash for it’s own good.
Rating: 86/100
*Notes taken from a purchased sample.