Nose: Blood oranges, lemon, dates, oats, sherry, dry oak, grapefruit, mustard.
Palate: Brutal without water. Raisins, currants, freshly cut timber, oak, nutmeg, nougat, pepper, grapefruit, pikelets.
Finish: Medium on toffee, pikelets, nougat, grapefruit, raisins, coconut and oak.
Rating: 85/100
Nose: Oak, varnish, pine, grapefruit, butter, coconut.
Palate: Lots of coconut, toffee, almonds, dry oak, cinnamon, bran. Springbanky!
Water enhances the coconut and toffee and adds spearmint.
Finish: Medium with the flavours of the palate and a little grassy. Well balanced.
Last Word: I generally enjoy non sherried/lightly sherried Karuizawa.
Rating: 86/100
Nose: Pine, malt, mint, coconut, salt, light oak.
Palate: Malt, toffee, mint chocolate, fresh oak, oily and lots of nougat.
Finish: Short and adds nothing different to the palate. Balanced between sweetness and dry woodyness.
Last Word: Simple but tasty.
Ratings: 82/100
Nose: Pears, green apples, lemon, honeydew melon.
Palate: White Pepper, pears, honeydew melon, blueberries, honey.
Finish: Short with crisp fruity flavours and a little chocolate and peanut oil.
Last Word: An aperitif.
Rating: 69/100
Nose: Top note is classic Hakushu, fresh and clean, a walk through the forest of the Japanese Alps; dry sherry, Valencia oranges, new leather seats, fresh mint, sweet tobacco, well-steeped tea, stewed prunes and a little vanilla.
Palate: Leads with a big combo of hot and sweet spices. Peanut brittle, dry sherry, strawberry, cloves, earth, chocolate, fig jam, mushrooms. Water brings out toffee, nougat, cherry and enhances the strawberry.
Finish: Medium on forest earthyness, mushrooms, dry sherry, strawberries, toffee, fig jam, peanut butter, fresh lawn clippings, tobacco leaf, drying.
Rating: 89/100
Nose: Shy it’s not. Big notes of fermenting pears, cookie dough, pine needles, eucalyptus, soap flakes, malt soaked timber, tinned peaches, kiwi fruit and menthol.
Palate: Intensely malty. Czech pilsner, cornflake cookies, muesli bars, pine, menthol. Also brings back memories of walking past the yakitori stalls in the alleyways along the north west side Shinjuku station. Quite oily. An unusual but appealing profile.
Finish: Actually a bit short considering the bold nose and palate. Mostly follows the palate with some added lime.
Last word: Like the Chichibu The First this one is very good at only 3 years old. You can just sense the care that goes into these hand crafted whiskies.
Rating: 86/100
*Update 2/01/2013 I’ve always known there was a flavor in the mix that I needed to add to these motes and it’s a very strong one. Just taken me awhile to put my finger on it. Kellogg/s Honey Puffs.
Nose: Quite light. Honey, creme brulee, strawberries, sugared apples, fresh oak, ginger, toasted muesli, pine needles. A little water brings out toffee, vanilla and a floral note.
Palate: Toasted oak, honey toasted muesli, strawberries, pancakes, a little resinous. With water some vanilla.
Finish: Medium on honey toasted muesli, pancakes, vanilla, strawberry and a dash of dry oak.
Last Word: Really like it.
Rating: 88/100
Nose: This one leads with vanilla, toffee and a floral note. Then, strawberries, manuka honey, light oak, maple syrup on flapjacks, stewed plums. Water adds toasted marshmallows
Palate: Chewy toffee, honey on wheat toast, teak, macadamia nut, port, brazil nut, light pipe tobacco, marshmallows, creamed corn, stewed plums. Balanced.
Finish: Medium on burnt toffee, marshmallows, strawberries, macadamias, creamed corn, some drying oak.
Last Word: Excellent. Another fine Mars from an American White Oak Cask.
Rating: 91/100
Matured in a Spanish Oak Sherry Cask for 12 and a half years. Finished with a white wine cask from the Yamanashi Winery belonging to the Eigashima Shuzou for one and a half years.
Nose: An odd (and strong) mix of coal fire, campfire ash, antiseptic cream, burnt rubber, mushrooms, potato skins, twigs, heavy dry sherry, cherry chocolate and caramel.
Palate: Heavy sherry, burnt rubber, mixed peel, campfire ash, cherry chocolate, brandy, menthol, grapes (red not white) and a good bit of ginger. With water, some bitter orange, twigs and honey soy.
Finish: Medium on dry sherry, campfire ash, mushrooms, twigs, cherry chocolate, brandy and burnt rubber.
Last Word: Well done to Eigashima for bottling this one non-chill-filtered and uncolored.
Rating: 80/100
*An alternate impression from Whiskies R Us
Nose: Plums, overripe peaches, marmalade, cola, burnt toffee, orange juice, pine, pink grapefruit, pipe tobacco.
Palate: White plums, red grapes, pipe tobacco, marmalade, cola, nutmeg, pine.
Finish: Medium length on the palate with plenty of orange juice and a little toffee.
Rating: 87/100
Nose: Malt, lemon, salt, anise, earthy. Floor polish, grapefruit, hazelnut, coffee grinds.
Palate: Needs water. Ton’s of lemon sherbert zing. Also, quite hot, with pepper and chilli powder. Malt, peanut shells, hazelnut, bittersweet. Ferrero Rocher, Hubba Bubba, creaming soda.
Finish: Long, with a little smoke, anise, oak, hazelnut, peanut shells, grapefruit and mint.
Rating: 87/100
Nose: Mint chocolate, pine, woodstain, Chicos chocolates, sawdust, rhubarb, leather.
Palate: Masses of stewed rhubarb. Candied nuts, sugared grapefruit, big malt, toffee and nicely judged oak. Leather, nouget, cola, anise and creaming soda.
Finish: Long on a sweet/dry combo.
Last Word: An excellent Miyagikyo which only works for me at cask strength
Rating: 89/100
Nose: Blood oranges, raisins, burnt toast, forest floor, menthol with some trailing struck match.
Palate: Mixed peel. menthol, blood oranges, a slight soapyness, cloves. A little dry oak and struck match.
Finish: Short-medium on mixed peel, dry oak, forest floor and again the trailing struck match. Seems a little immature/unresolved.
Last Word: In my experience, sherry cask finished Ichiro’s Malts are the least successful.
79/100
Nose: Dry Sherry, earthy, mushrooms, pine, leather, timber, blueberry. Water reveals a floral note.
Palate: Needs a little water to open up. Dry sherry, oranges, cloves, papaya and dry oak. Extra water reveals some cocoa, sugared fruit jubes and cola.
Finish: Medium on rhubarb, sugared fruit jubes, cocoa, a little dry oak then minty.
Last Word: Lacks the depth of the best sherried whiskies
Rating: 84/100
Nose: Mouldy orange skins, devilled eggs, pork rind, savoury shapes biscuits, sweet sherry, a flinty element
Palate: Again, mouldy orange skins, devilled eggs, raisins.
Finish: Short on flavour on the palate and rather unpleasant. Quite hard to drink.
Last Word: Certainly not Suntory’s finest hour.
Rating: 62/100
Nose: Malt, roasted corn, light oak, caramels, varnish, a little perfumy.
Palate: Smoky malt, caramels, bubblegum, honeyed oats and some lime.
Finish: Short on malt and caramels then grassy with some smoke.
Final Word: Fairly simple blend more suitable for cocktails or as a mixer than drinking neat.
Rating: 75/100
Nose: Delightful. Vanilla, rye, rye bread spices (fennel, aniseed, cardamom), ginger bread, malt, caramel, lacquered teak.
Palate: As tasty as the nose is delightful. Again, vanilla, caramels, toasty rye, lacquered teak. Peanut butter, balanced sweet-and-savory spices and plenty of ginger bread.
Finish: Short/medium. Toasty rye, malt, sweet/savory spice combo, a little oak then mint ice cream.
Final Word: Enjoyed by all who tasted this one with me for the first time at Shot Bar Zoetrope Tokyo last year. Glad I now have a bottle.
Rating: 87/100
Nose: Butterscotch, blanched pears, vanilla, creamed corn, oak, mixed herbs, shellfish.
Palate: Creamed corn, green apple skin, butterscotch, rye, red grapes, a tad soapy.
Finish: Short, green apple skins, red grapes, rye, butterscotch. Better than expected, the soapy element and short finish lets it down.
FInal Word: About $12 a bottle in Japan
Rating: 78/100
Nose: Crisp and light. Pineapple, light oak, tinned peaches, creamed corn, toffee, mashed banana.
Palate: Pineapple, ginger bread, walnuts, red grapes, rye, strawberry, a little white pepper.
Finish: Short on the flavours of the palate and some white grapes.
Last Word: No heavy hitter but none the less a well crafted blend that can be picked up for peanuts in Japan.
Rating: 80/100
Nose: Deep and rich. Heavy Pineapple, passionfruit, papaya, a sherry like quality, brazil nuts, walnuts, rye, pipe tobacco, white pepper.
Palate: Nicely tangy(fruit tingles), pineapple, walnut, passionfruit skins, pipe tobacco, cloves, kiwi fruit, papaya, hint of sweet yoghurt.
Finish: Short medium with nothing added from the palate. This is a premium blend only let down by the shortish finish and low abv.
Last Word: Would be a killer at 48%abv.
Rating: 87/100