Tastes

The nose is really complex . A youthfulness is present but it’s matured immaculately. Carmelized Pears and honey instantly hit you amongst the peat. It feels way less Peated than most islays. My guess is somewhere between 15-25ppm. Rose petals, Mint, hay, vanilla and butter are also there. Oak dominates the nose over the Sherry but a layer of sweetness is definitely there. The taste is sublime. Sherry makes itself known with a nuttiness, cocoa powder and brownie batter amongst this distant seaweed note. The peat almost seems like it tamed down after about 15 minutes to just a perfect kick. Just like the Komagatake line, Tsunuki hits way above its age statement. Sure it’s expensive but It’s presented with maturity and shows how well Mars are doing things in Japan. These Komagatake and Tsunuki bottles are of what’s to come in the future with regular age statement releases . It’s almost like Mars are telling you: “This is just the early season scrimmage, what until the actual game.” Considering all things involved 97/100

What’s better for the money? Honestly try to find me something better under 70 quid? Certain drams blow your mind like Edradour, this and a few others. This is unbelievable. Honey maple and chocolate wafers 100/100 easily and should be priced in the high 3 figures or a few hundred.

Really nice. Much more enjoyable than the Tun I tried. Nose is very strong Sherry with hints of Coca Cola. I can’t exactly remember the rest of the tasting notes from all the drams in the evening but just know it’s a quality one. 92/ 100

It’s quite nice. Very basic bourbon on the nose with hints of corn, vanilla and cola. What separates it from similar stuff is it’s level of refinement. It’s very well aged. No alcohol on the nose and smoothness on the finish. Pretty solid. 90-100

Crafted by Suntory, The Chita is hard to come by in this part of the world. It’s a 100% single grain which means it utilizes “Coffey stills” or more technically referred to as column stills, which allow for continuous production and leave a creamier sweeter feel to the dram. Single grain whiskies also don’t need to be made from barley nor do they need to be malted. Unmalted means the seeds or grains haven’t gone through germination so there are no enzymes or sugars, just starches. The Chita uses a variety of casks and mostly corn and comes together at 43%. The Chita has an amazing nose. It actually blew me away. The initial nose is Banana, cereal, sweet corn, vanilla. Very sweet. Grassy vegetal notes too. White oak in the distance with a dry aura of oak lingering in the back. It’s surprisingly complex. Taste is absolutely divine. Literally milk chocolate. It’s like eating a sweet chocolate dessert. This shows the true brilliance of a well done single grain whisky and how sweet they are. I was sleeping on Single Grain whiskies until this. It’s phenomenal. I’m genuinely surprised how good this actually is. 95/100

This is the newest bottling of Pure Malt from Nikka. I had the old one a few years back and they utilize whiskies from their Miyagikyo and Yoichi distilleries. The new bottle has more of an emphasis on Yoichi which is the smokier brother while Miyagikyo is a Sherry driven sweeter dram. Caramel, flowery, pear and bubble bum. Smoke is definitely prevalent but it just wafts beautifully in the distance. The use of ex Sherry casks also shows more on the palate and the finish brings roasted pecans and vanilla frosting to me. Verdict: 93/100. $65 is more than fair for this dram. It’s better than the old Pure Malt and months later it’s actually gotten better with only around 20% left in the bottle (which is rare for younger drams).

My first Westward and idk why I waited so long! Generously gifted to me by one of my best buddies. This particular bottle is matured and then finished in French oak that held Suzor Wine Pinot noir from the same state (Oregon). The nose is incredibly inviting and dessert in a glass. Warm and thick. Very strong level of chocolate and malt right away. Warm leather along with a nice silkiness, mixed berries and cocoa powder. A damn good nose. It literally smells like chocolate, even more so than Signet from Glenmo. The palate brings graham crackers and chocolate fudge with a faint bite from the French oak. It’s extremely excellent. Easily one of my favorite American made drams and I’m no expert on the American side but I’ve had THH and other renowned drams in the U.S. and Westward are doing things right and easily live up to the hype. One of the best whiskies I’ve had in years.

Toki uses whiskies from Suntorys 3 distilleries Yamazaki Hakushu and Chita. This particular bottle focuses more on Hakushu and Chita but it truly is mostly Chita. Nose: Hot and definitely young but banana, green tea and apples hit me at first. A distant graham cracker and maraschino cherry was also there. The palate was very oily as expected from the column stills/grains used by Chita but the finish is surprisingly good and way better than the bright nose. I got Marshmello and honey on the finish. Update 1 month later: It’s mellowed out a lot and gotten even sweeter on the finish. It’s actually a great dram for 30 bucks. 85/100

Pretty nice stuff. It was very basic on the nose and reminded me of heavily peated whiskies but on the younger side. Maybe some oak in there as well but the sherrys only showed up the finish and made the dram sweet in a great way. A good one from Glendronach for the price but I’m a hard pass on most of their lineup since they were bought out by BF who chill filters Glendronach now..

Pretty nice. I had this a bar so I can’t really say every tasting note from the shot glass they used but I’ve had Nikka FTB (which doesn’t comply with Japanese whisky standards), Yoichi, Miyagikyo and Pure malt both the new and old edition. I found the coffee grain very young in the nose kinda like Toki but the flavors were strong on corn and caramel on the palate. It was a nice sweet finish but I easily take the other nikkas over this. Heck, I take Suntory Toki over this.