Tastes

Sickening fake apple and bitter smoke on top of a mediocre corn based whiskey. Like apple and smoke flavored Seagrams VO.

Fukano Distillery Whisky 2017 Edition FINAL SCORE 80/100 Vital Statistics: Distillery/Blender: Fukano Distillery Category: Japanese Whisky Age Statement: NAS Proof: 85.6 Mash bill/blend: 100% Rice Tasting Date: 04/14/2018 Nose: 18/20 Honey, Jasmine, Shingo. Kumquat orangey-fruit character that transitions to a tropical jackfruit as it sits. Reminiscent of the warm rocks of a hotspring. So much jasmine and orange blossom. It’s like a mochi house, with lots of rice scent. Slight iodine. Initial Taste: 12/15 Alcohol warmth and very noticeably heady eand estery… but it lets through bright and zesty orange blossom and jasmine, as well as black pu erh tea sweetened with mild summer honey. Body/Mouthfeel: 7/10 Very light, but with a sweet oak intensity that keeps it from being thin, and remains interesting on the palate. Water doesn’t help. Hot water makes this a dream to enjoy and blooms forth a creamy texture. Taste: 14/15 Some chewing reveals sansho peppercorn, floral and citric terpenes. The heat makes it difficult to pull other notes that hide within. Water reveals soft flesh of delicate lychee… But serving oyuwari style with 150 Farenheit water makes this a flavor explosion! The jasmine blasts out, bringing with it chrysanthemum and the deep nuances of a well-aged pu erh tea. Super complex. Finish: 15/20 Super dry. And yet, it does give you a pleasing Kentucky hug… more appropriately, a red face?? Barrel spice is big time through the entirety of the finish. Very low char, but there’s a light toast character. New and young wood. Again, giving this some hot water, it doesn’t lengthen the finish much, but it does make the finish silky and creamy, and allows the fresh and soft lychee fruit notes to persist until the end. Value: 6/10 This is hard to value. It’s super unique in the market, but at the same time, for in the $70 arena, its drinkability on any occasion and the necessity of hot water on serving make this much less accessible. Overall: 8/10 Overall, this is hard to evaluate, being such a unique whiskey. If you like good sake, this will definitely be a pleasure. Oyuwari style serving is a must. It diverges greatly from most other whiskey categories and profiles. Given a chance, and taking into account it’s unique position, I must say, it is very good, and quite memorable; it might not stand against similar single malts at its price point, but if you’re looking for the certain floral notes this whisky bears, you would be wont to find them elsewhere in such a composed package.

delicious spicy oloroso sherry and sweet px and grapey smooth cognac... it's the Macallan of bourbon!!!!

Tasting Date: 03/29/2018 Nose: 13/20 Bright and sweet caramel-covered apples. Twist of zesty, but sweet and juicy navel orange. Nose is warm and sweet, but piquant. Red currant and dried cranberry. Mild fennel seed. Expecting a bourbon by the nose. Initial Taste: 11/15 Bourbon on the initial punch, but the follow-up is immediate and unmistakably rye spice. The rye spice comes and lingers in the sinus cavity as if it were horseradish. Caramel crème candies, like Cowtails. Fairly mild in the initial impression, but every not perceived is a pleasant one. Very polite rye! Body/Mouthfeel: 7/10 Medium bodied. Alcohol does not thin it out on the palate. Super smooth and caramel-sweet with a sugary slickness, like caramel crèmes. Taste: 11/15 Chewing it, the same notes from the initial presence persist, bourbon corn notes, followed by some rye spice, and settling into light caramel and sugary crème filling, but there’s a slow fade into the navel orange note picked up in the nose. Nothing herbal, minty, or spicy in a salient, astringent, or pungent way. Notably, a bready character backbone is absent. Finish: 12/20 For a whiskey that gives such a smooth and dainty performance, the finish sticks around! The rye spices, bready and punchy with caraway, coriander, and star anise stick little flavor pins and needles all over and continue to fill the nose. Nevertheless, the palate is left pretty dry and begs for another sip. No overbearing astringency, no cloying sweet, but not a ton of depth either and moderate alcohol burn. Value: 10/10 For $16 I picked this up for…. Absolutely worth it, and I might go grab another bottle! Overall: 6/10 Solid enough on its own, but for the serious rye drinker, it may be lacking in depth and/or intensity. Every note is good, but there’s not too much to explore here. A fine drink, but somewhat lackluster. Again, decent enough to sip, but certainly an excellent mixer for any rye cocktail, especially those using highly aromatic bitters. Likely, this would be an excellent gateway rye for those who love very polite bourbons and want to dip their feet into some spice, especially with the low level of commitment to buy a bottle.

Happy Friday! After hearing the Whiskey Cast episode where they interviewed the folks behind the Dead Rabbit, I was intrigued... especially since I don’t drink Irish whiskey, generally finding it too mild for my preference. Here are my notes: Dead Rabbit Aged 5 years, 88 proof, Debut release 3/1/18 Nose: Big cereal grain and freshly cracked barley malt. Underneath the veil of barley lies freshly toasted oak. This smells like a particularly malty Speyside if it were aged in new American oak. The scent is straightforward, but not lacking in complexity, just deeply barley, and deeply oak. As it breathes, I find white grape must. Taste: Oh so thick! On the palate, it floats like honey or B grade maple syrup. It definitely has a clean flavor at its core, as most Irish whiskies do, and if it didn't have anything else, the great velvety texture with a hint of heat would support it just fine. However, the big oak presence is there; It's woody, like fresh pencils, new limbs, and seasoned log piles; It's spicy, like flame-charred jalepeno peppers, spicy, with a toasty bitter skin, and green soft berry beneath. Though it gives great texture and viscosity, the barrel finishing also gives a touch of sweetness. With just abit of time, that buttery Chardonnay flavor blooms forth... all of a sudden, this dram has something going on! Finish: Husky barley flavors dwell, as the footstools of tongue-smacking oak tannin, a dab of puckering oak tartness, and a heavy laquer of that oak barrel sugar that leaves your palate still feeling silky, but just dusted with white peppercorn and mace. Overall: OK, you got me. I found an Irish whiskey I like and would drink! This is like a fair American whiskey and a mild Highland single malt had a lovechild and it somehow came out Irish.