Tastes

Tasted as a flight along with Peated and Sakura. For some reason this pack is bottled at 43 percent, and they do seem a bit watered down. Nose: Salty brine, seaweed, grains Palate: Savoury, mushroom, herbal Finish: Medium and sweetens up a bit. Interesting spicy oak at the end. My favourite of the three. Reminds me of Oban or Talisker minus the smoke. The retired grandfather who spent his life fishing and now sits at home drinking a little too much whisky.

Tasted as a flight along with Peated and Mizunara. For some reason this pack is bottled at 43 percent, and they do seem a bit watered down. Nose: Wildflower honey, sweet malt, cherry blossom Palate: Sweet honey, malt and a bit of red apple. Finish: Medium length, warm and floral. My second favourite and reminds me a lot of Nikka Miyagikyo. The delicate wife tending to the garden all day.

Tasted as a flight with Sakura and Mizunara. For some reason this pack is bottled at 43 percent, and they do seem a bit watered down. Nose: Burnt rubber and motor oil. Not particularly inviting. Palate: Machine oil, plaster, but morphs into lapsang souchong tea. Sweetness makes this somehow all work in a strange way. Finish: Short, sweet and oakey. This is probably the weakest of the three. The overworked Dad coming home from a 14 hour shift at the Toyota factory.

Cracked open this bottle to celebrate achieving a long term goal of being accepted into an MBA program. Been saving it for a special occasion. I'm comparing it with standard Lot 40, one of my favorite Canadian ryes. Nose is much jammier as expected, still the sweet maple rye, but with dark fruits and berries. Palate is truly incredible. Sweet cherries, raspberries greet you, followed by a maple and brown sugar. The finish starts with blueberry pancakes and then gets very spicy and oakey. This is so good I'm regretting that the bottle will eventually be finished and I may never have this again. A great celebratory dram though and surpassed expectations.

Tasted at the distillery. Personally I found this to be the weakest of their three offerings. It tastes good but is a bit too watered down. I don't really get much of a reminder of bourbon, just an average grain whisky. The mixed mash is the same product but with higher ABV and the extra 5% makes a huge difference.

Tasted this at the distillery. It was my favourite of their three whisky offerings, and is a solid bridge between Canadian Whisky and Bourbon. Nose: Muted, grains, maple and caramel Palate: Sweet and spicy, corn, burnt sugar Finish: Short with a bit of burnt oak

As I finish up the last few drops of my Miyagikyo (which I'm a big fan of), I knew I had to crack open the Yoichi to make sure I could compare the two. Nose: Strong malt, honey, bread and a hint of smoke. Palate: Sweet, oily with the same malt, honey, bread and smoke as the nose. Finish: This is where things take an interesting turn. There is a distinct dry savoury, umami note that is almost a bit sake like. Up until now I wouldn't have been able to differentiate this from a standard Highland malt, but this finish makes it stand out. Overall more punchy and less floral than the Miyagikyo. Pretty good though.

A nice balance of charred oak, black cherry, burnt sugar and black pepper. Goes down real smooth.