The Akkeshi Single Malt Lightly Peated 2020 3YO 55%abv

Nose: Some earthyness, shiitake mushrooms, roasted malt, roasted chestnuts, vanilla, biscuits(American style) a cereal note and a little tar. Still some youthful notes of steamed green vegetables. More Scotch like than most Japanese Whiskies I’ve tasted. Nothing much changes with water added.
Palate: There is a sweetness but more candied fruits rather than fresh. Caramel, chocolate brownies, some baking spices and earthyness. Not really detecting the peat which may come as the bottle empties. A savoury element like spicey beef rissoles. Not particularly complex. With water a soft malty theme emerges.
Finish: Earthy and a combination of steamed green vegies and spicy beef rissoles. With water soft malt and vanilla then a little oaky dryness.
Last Word: I have tasted all the Akkeshi releases so far and for reasons I’m not quite sure about they seem a few years away from producing whiskies as well resolved and complex as those from the likes of Mars, Chichibu and Kanosuke of the same age.

Rating: 80/100

Akkeshi Foundations 4 New Born Malt & Grain 48%abv

Nose: Notes of agave, pears, yeast, sawdust, vanilla, unripened bananas. Still very new makee!
Palate: Starts with a spicy kick. Lemon merangue, grapefruit, agave, yeast, Brazil nuts, pears, honey. Light bodied.
Finish: Fades fairly quickly on lemon merangue, agave, yeast and green apples.
Last Word: Fundamently there is nothing particularly wrong with this, it’s just not complex compared to the likes of Chichibu and Kanosuke of the same age. After tasting all 4 Foundation botllings, for mine, Akkeshi will need to lift their game considerably by the time their 1st 3YO single Malt is realeased in February 2020.

Rating: 79/100

Akkeshi Foundations 3 New Born Mizunara Cask 2019 8-23Mths 55%abv

P1050428Nose: Ah the scent of youth. Vegetal, yeast, smokeless mezcal, poached pears, oak, a musty note, lemon detergent. Tasted blind, everyone in my Japanese Whisky Club picked this as a very young whisky(new pot).
Palate: Follows the nose faithfully and but also some prickly spices and honey.
Finish: Yeast, honey, lemons, smokeless mezcal and some drying oak.
Last Word: Tastes young and lacks complexity. Mizunara oak has been elevated to a somewhat mythical status that is in reality out of proportion to it’s influence on the spirit. I would caution that expectations should be tempered. Any special qualities that this wood may impart are usually quite subtle. 8-10 years fully matured in Mizunara oak and bottled at cask strength may well be a different story as proven by a Mizunara Single Cask I tasted at the Chichibu Distillery.

Rating: 78/100

The Japanese Whisky Review 2018 Wrap Up – The Year That Wasn’t!

Woo Hoo! What an awesome, ye glorious year 2018 was for Japanese Whisky!
Sorry, my bad, that was 2010!
So, as 2018 comes to a close it’s time for the reality check.
It should really only take a few lines because as the title says, it was the year that wasn’t. Now we can throw at least couple of years prior tp 2018 in the same basket but as it has been pointed out by punters with boots on the ground, it seems that by and large, this was the worst year for them trying to access ‘interesting’ Japanese whisky. We’re not talking about the ridiculously priced auction stuff but what you can buy at retail liquor stores in Japan or abroad. If you haven’t been following you can read the many stories of frustration on the Buying Japanese Whisky in Japan 2018 report.
How bad is the drought? Well Suntory, a giant conglomerate and the biggest producer of whisky in Japan, is down to a single readily available age statement whisky, Yamazaki 12. They did however generously(sarcasm), delete two popular age statement whiskies Hakushu 12 and Hibiki 17 from their portfolio. They replaced for want of a better word, Hibiki 17 with Hibiki Blenders Choice but that so far was for Japan only. Have not tried it myself but readers have reported not as good as the 17 year old. They did not even release a limited edition this year like the Yamazaki LE of previous years.
Moving on to Nikka we still have a core range based on No Age Statement Whiskies. Then we had the Manzanilla Wood Finish Yoichi and Miyagikyo for Japan and the Sherry Wood and Bourbon Wood Finished Yoichi and Miyagikyo for Europe. Bourbon Wood Finish……how exotic! Sherry Wood Finished……previously any Yoichi or Miyagikyo I’ve tasted from sherry casks were fully matured in that cask type. Basically, not enough sherry cask whisky at Nikka so they can only afford to use some for finishing. All the limited releases were also without an age statement. In previous years, at least there were single cask releases of Yoichi and Miyagikyo even though they were tough to get if you weren’t in Japan.
As an aside, early next year I’m going to post my thoughts on Japanese No Age Statement Whiskies so please bear with me on that story.
Chichibu, I think in a number of markets it’s relatively easy to find the Blend, Mizunara and Wine Wood Finish and the Double Distilleries. Limited releases fly off the shelves in Japan or are already bought up on pre-order. We’ve all seen the second hand prices of Single Cask Chichibu and I’m sure no one even a couple of years thought we would live in a world of $1000+ 5-6 year distilled only in the last 10 years. No fault there from a distillery that currently only releases about 150,000 bottles a year. These guys cannot be expected to make up for the short fall of the ‘Big Two’ Suntory and Nikka.
Eigashima White Oak Distillery, tiny concern with limited production runs gave us maybe 8-10 age statement whiskies up to 10 years old, a number being single casks. Good for them and I mean that! It is one of the few positives about the halo effect of the current popularity of Japanese Whisky. The little guys can now confidently sell everything they produce and consequently are happy to continue to distill whisky. Pricing though if you are not in Japan and cannot buy these Akashi for retail price can be problematic as they are often being sold abroad often 3 times or more. It’s a hell of a lot of money for young whiskies!
Mars follows the Eigashima story quite closely as far as number of releases in 2018. At least in Australia though, Mars is more readily available. Our largest discount liquor store chain has at one stage or another throughout the 2018 sold 8 different Mars bottling’s consisting of their core range plus 5 limited releases. That number comes close to equaling the total number of offerings from the ‘Big Two’ sold by the same chain in 2018.
There were a number of new pot/new make spirits released primarily in Japan. Good news for the future but of no impact at all on the over all state of play in 2018.
If you are like me, you would have done internet searches for Japanese Whisky News throughout 2018. Really just a case of nothing to see here and the majority of news was about the Japanese Whisky drought and discontinued age statement bottling’s.
You don’t have to be Nostradamus to see a basic repeat of 2018 in 2019. If you are a fan of Japanese Whiskies I can only suggest to keep your wits about you and be ready to pounce on any new bottling’s released in 2019.
Down the track both Chichibu and Mars should offer a little more relief from the drought. Mars in 2020 when some true(whisky aged at least three years) starts being bottled from the Tsunuki Distillery. Chichibu a little later once the second distillery which will run concurrently with original distillery and be 5 times the size, bottles whisky in around 2023. The other new distilleries looking to release Japanese Whisky in 2020 should at least provide us with some variety if not a big boost in overall output.
The true turn around however will only start when the Big Two, Suntory and Nikka, start churning out significant numbers of age statement whiskies again. When that will be is anyone’s guess!

Akkeshi Foundations 2 Bourbon Barrel Peated Whisky Matured 8-17mths 58%abv

P1050395Nose: It may be simplistic to say but think about a peated version of the Foundation 1. Not sure what the peating level is in PPM but I would call this medium even if this was heavily peated. This is quite typical of peated Japanese Whiskies and it is a personal preference as I’ve never been won over by whiskies that are unbalanced on the peated side. The green apples and pears found in the Foundations 1 though the pear is more on the preserved in alcohol kind. Hints of honey, vanilla and honeydew melon. Peated lemons, brine and iodine but again not out of balance. Strongly reminiscent of a good Mescal.
Palate: Honey, caramel, almonds, green apples, pears, peated lemons. The quality of the new make distillate is on show as there is no palate burn what so ever. The Mescal again.
Finish: Actually quite drying on oak, leather and tea tannins. The peated lemons, some smoked meats and ginger bread.
Last Word: The peating adds some extra dimensions over the Foundations 1. Very promising indeed and the overall balance is excellent.
A note to the distillery, when we are paying Yen 3-4000 for a 200ml bottle of new make how about making the label presentation a little more classy and distinctive. Looks like something printed at home on a 50 buck printer!

Rating: 80/100

Akkeshi Foundations 1 Bourbon Barrel Matured 5-14 Months 60%abv

P1050394Nose: Strongly fruity on green apples, fresh pear, lemon juice. Hints of steamed greens and the almost inevitable acetone note of youth(though not overpowering). White pepper which becomes quite intense once this opens up over time in the glass.
Palate: Respectably smooth on the palate for a new make spirit of 60% though warming on the way down. Fairly simple/straight forward at this stage. The green apples are there but the malt begins to assert itself. The steamed greens, a little vanilla, toffee and some chili flakes spice. Water doesn’t change the equation to much though ups the chili flake spice.
Finish: Green apples, pears and white pepper. After about 5 minutes a little soapiness.
Last Word: Definitely shows potential. Due the cooler overall climate where the distillery is situated, I would expect an Akkeshi whisky to mature maybe a year slower than say an equivalent aged Chichibu. I say this as I tasted the new makes from Chichibu and they were surprisingly well developed at a similar age.

Rating: 75/100