Nose: Stone fruits such as apricots and nectarines, malt, vanilla, treacle, new wood. Active wood spices and a hit of pepper. Mars peats at 3 different level and this one seems to be the lightest of those at maybe 4ppm.
Palate: Honey, treacle, dried pears, oranges, vanilla soaked oak, white peaches, white flowers. Decent amount of oak which adds a drying element. The touch of peat. Water adds a some extra sweetness, with baking spices and lemon sherbet tang.
Finish: Treacle, honey, tea, vanilla. Water adds salt.
Last Word: Another impressive young Mars that gets better with time. Hopefully Mars are not just bottling every cask at around 3-4 years old and are holding some back to be released at 10 years plus.
Rating: 87/100
Nose: It’s a peated whisky or at least there is a decent portion of peated malt in the blend. Iodine, earthy peat, mushrooms, stove pipes. Candied pears, green apples, orange peels, chocolate, lychees. After a few months a sherry note.
Nose: Kicks off with loads of vanilla, toffee and honey. Poached pears, maple syrup, fresh cut timber. Certainly not a shy nose and a lot of what I would expect from a youngish whisky matured in 1st fill bourbon barrels.
Nose: Plums, orange peels, a floral note, floor polish, sawdust, manuka honey. Something strange like grilled lamb fat, damp forest floor, sump oil, Arnotts Iced Vovo Biscuits, dried mushrooms.
Nose: Lots of honey, toffee and vanilla notes. Sugared apple pie crust, some wood spice, rye spice, oranges, buttered popcorn, white pepper, cinnamon, overripe pineapple. I’d say fairly faithful to the Kirin House style.
Nose: Honey, brine, chocolate, preserved pears, hint of earthy peat, seaweed, greed apples, marshmallows, coal.
Nose: Oaky, earthy and fruity. Reminds me somewhat of Hanyu earthiness, the earth in orchards of stone fruits. Very expressive for a 43%abv whisky. Licorice allsorts, vanilla and demerara rum, white peaches and a mix of cantaloupe and honeydew melons. Slightly burnt brown sugar, dried papaya and apricots. Some leather and sweet tobacco. Take some time and little by little, more and more is revealed. Some gingerbread spices, raisins, overripe bananas, pineapple and oranges. I’d call it a plush nose!
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!
Nose: Vanilla, toffee apples, baked pears, deck stain, honey, white flowers.
Nose: Black plums, black cherries, Flambeau bananas, brandy snaps, caramelized orange slices, toffee, raspberry jam, English breakfast tea, honey, saddle bags, floor polish, dried papaya and mango, rye spice, dusty oak barrels.
After our tour of Chichibu Distillery had completed I asked if our tour guide Soma could recommend a good whisky bar in Chichibu town. He recommended Bar Te – Airigh and what an awesome recommendation it was. Now Soma called the bar Bar Cherry, as did Chichibu Brand Ambassador Yumi. I tried a google search that would translate Bar Te – Airigh to Bar Cherry but I could not find one.
Nose: Toffee, raisin toast, rhubarb stalks, nutmeg, preserved peaches, red grapes, brandy snaps.
Nose: Stone fruits of peaches, plums and apricots. Toffee, oak, wood spice. Banana Flambeau and a corn note I’d associate with a blended whisky. Water brings out orange juice.
Nose: Nutmeg, pepper, mixed herbs, raisins, apple cider, grapefruit, lemon peel, yeast. Water adds pears and a wildflower note.
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.
Nose: It may be simplistic to say but think about a peated version of the