Tastes

Nose - Bright honey, toasted wheat, donut glaze, orange marmalade, cinnamon Taste - Yellow cake, donut glaze, breakfast pastries, cream cheese danish, nutmeg Finish - Lingering sweet, vanilla, hint of orange, nutmeg Score - 84/100 Final Thoughts - Great nose, almost noses like a well aged grain whisky as it felt a bit too "clean" but upon reading their description on their website & seeing this was made using "Irish whiskey techniques" and was distilled using a mix of malted and unmalted barley, it made sense. This felt like a dessert pastry in a glass. Very tasty, nothing off putting, but at the same time nothing outstanding about it either. Would I drink it if offered? - Yes Would I specifically order it? - Maybe Would I buy a bottle? - Maybe NOTE - All reviews are done without factoring in price.

Nose - Lemon, orange, vanilla, honey, apples/pears, iced green tea Taste - Buttery brioche, lemon/orange donut glaze, apples, pears, honey, light muted cinnamon, salt Finish - Lingering buttery honey bread, apples, baked apples, hint of bitter apple seeds Score - 84/100 Final Thoughts - This was a very pleasant pour, nothing too exciting about it but at the same time nothing super off putting about it either. Very pleasant nose, which lets the distillery's distillate shine through. Solid single malt here, great base for things to come. Would I drink it if offered? - Yes Would I specifically order it? - Maybe Would I buy a bottle? - Maybe NOTE - All reviews are done without factoring in price.

Tasted at the Suntory Hakushu distillery in November 2024 at 22000 JPY for a 30mL pour. Nose - Sherry, raisins, honey, leather, wet tobacco, stewed apples, caramel Taste - Raisins, honey, chocolate, leather, cinnamon, hint of plum Finish - Lingering honey sweet, hint of raisin, sandalwood, leather dryness, cocoa powder Score - 96/100 Final Thoughts - This is an incredibly well balanced single malt. Great nose, great balance, good amount of sherry influence while maintaining the great malt characteristic of Yamazaki single malt. I felt as if this had a bit more sherry influence and maybe sort of masked the true Yamazaki malt a bit which I think does very well with mizunara cask influence (I think this adds a slightly medicinal/sandalwood vibe that's truly unique). Overall this was a fantastic pour, I'm really glad I had a chance to try this pour, but I have a feeling that for the value, I'll stick with the Yamazaki 18 (which used to be much more affordable) Would I drink it if offered? - Yes Would I specifically order it? - Yes Would I buy a bottle? - Not for the price NOTE - All reviews are done without factoring in price.

Tasted at the Nikka Yoichi distillery in November 2024 for 850 JPY for a 15mL pour Nose - Caramel, vanilla, apples, salt Taste - Caramel, raisins, salt, stone fruits, chocolates, cocoa nibs Finish - Caramel, raisins, chocolate, salt, stone fruits, apples Score - 87/100 Final Thoughts - Take this review with a grain of salt as it was my 3rd pour at the tasting bar at Nikka Yoichi distillery. This felt like a nicely balanced blend, with dominating flavors of caramel and light orchard fruits. It's one of those that didn't stand out in any particular way, but was very pleasant and didn't have any off putting flavors or notes. Very easy to drink and well balanced. Would I drink it if offered? - Yes Would I specifically order it? - Yes Would I buy a bottle? - Yes NOTE - All reviews are done without factoring in price.

Had the chance to try this at the Nikka Yoichi distillery in November of 2024 for 10000JPY for a scant 10mL pour. Nose - Caramel, chocolate, toasted cereal grains, hints of raisins/prunes, dried stone fruits Taste - Gentle smoke, caramel, milk chocolate, raisins, dried persimmons Finish - Caramel & gentle smoke, dried fruits, lingering caramely tea Score - 94/100 Final Thoughts - This was a very nicely balanced dram and you could tell there was some older whisky in this blend. It had a fantastic nose that just made you feel that there was some older stuff in there. There were some notes of dark toasted grains and chocolate malt vibes and had a nice dried fruit undertones. Sadly I only had 10mL to review, so tasting notes are a bit slim, but this was very enjoyable, nothing off putting or off balance about this. Would I drink it if offered? - Yes Would I specifically order it? - Yes Would I buy a bottle? - No, knowing the price NOTE - All reviews are done without factoring in price.

Nose - Hint of salt, golden raisins, fresh cut apples, nectarines, light caramel Taste - Light fruity brine, light lactic funk, ripe cut apples, gentle hints of cinnamon and clove, goji berries, lightly sour raspberries, lightly herbal like sage or tarragon Finish - Tarragon? Sage? salt, lightly medicinal berries, fresh apples, golden raisins, lightly drying Score - 80/100 Final Thoughts - So I think the best thing about this release was the nose. It was nice and fruity, gave off some sauternes and maybe some white wine barrel influence/funk. On the palate you're hit with the nice saline and a hint of lactic funk (think fruity sour milk, but in a good way?). Fresh cut apples dominate with this in and out vibe of sort of savory herbs and a tiny bit medicinal vibe like that of goji berries or dried Chinese dates. The finish was pretty much the same with the herbs and fresh cut apples. This felt a bit underwhelming and not sure if a single bad cask made it into the blend or not, but there was this faint herbal bitterness at the end into the finish that just didn't seem to fit. Would I drink it if offered? - Yes Would I specifically order it? - No Would I buy a bottle? - No NOTE - All reviews are done without factoring in price.

Nose - Clean crisp smoke, sweet cream, candied cranberries, bit mineraly, mint? (w/ water) Bit brighter, but mostly the same Taste - Little hot, salty peat smoke, fresh red berries, hint of red wine vinegar, earth, dark chocolate, leather (w/ water) salt increased, more vibrant/bright, less earth, dark chocolate, leather Finish - Black pepper, earth, salt, woody herb/fruit stems (w/ water) same Score - 83/100 Final Thoughts - This was overall a decent Port Charlotte offering. The wine cask finish gave it another layer to just an ex-bourbon cask maturation, but it felt a bit hot at times and water improved some things, but hurt others. I did like the dark earthy, dark chocolate notes I got without water, but it felt a bit hot without. It had a very artificial sugar/rock candy sweetness that I'm not always the biggest fan of. It's good, not amazing, but not off putting in any way. Would I drink it if offered? - Yes Would I specifically order it? - Maybe Would I buy a bottle? - No NOTE - All reviews are done without factoring in price.

Nose - Gentle peppery smoke, sea spray, sweet nuts, sweet cream, apricots, light fleshed stone fruits, salted caramel, lightly floral (w/ water) Slightly less fruity & floral, more salted caramel Taste - Gentle peppery smoke, salted caramel, peppery heat, sea spray, dried apricots but w/o the intense sweetness, light bitter stone pith (w/ water) Reduced heat, bitterness is greatly reduced, otherwise the same Finish - Lingering fruity salted caramels, bitterness intensifies, sea spray and black peppered cheese (w/ water) Less bitter but otherwise the same Score - 87/100 Final Thoughts - The nose on this one is the best part for sure as it screams classic sweet peat and lactic funk to me. The marsala cask influence has tons of great stone fruits and salted caramel influence, but somehow the bitter component gets a bit distracting. It also feels a tad bit hot for the proof. Not completely distracting, but enough for you to feel it and want to add a bit of water. Water does help the peppery burn a bit, but also mutes the nose quite a bit. This one is pretty good overall, but I don't think I'd turn down a pour of this if offered. Would I drink it if offered? - Yes Would I specifically order it? - Yes Would I buy a bottle? - Not another NOTE - All reviews are done without factoring in price.

Nose - Caramel, vanilla, cinnamon, cloves, hint of leather Taste - Caramel, vanilla, brown sugar, cinnamon, lightly bitter leather, hint of browned butter Finish - Lingering oaky vanilla, caramel, cinnamon spice Score - 88/100 Final Thoughts - It's actually been a while since I've had their standard bourbon release since I've had so many of their special releases that I sort of forgot what their "standard" release was like. Very classic "bourbon" notes done well. Nothing mind blowing, but just a very good classic bourbon profile. Great caramel, vanilla, cinnamon notes. Hint of tannic leather to cut the sweetness a bit and round things out a bit. Would I drink it if offered? - Yes Would I specifically order it? - Yes Would I buy a bottle? - Yes NOTE - All reviews are done without factoring in price.

This came from one of those elaborate 950mL decanter bottles from the distillery purchased in September of 2019. Amontillado Cask AM110216002B Nose - Hints of sweet soy, dark chocolate, leather, wet sherry cask, wet oak (w/ water) Mutes the nose a lot, much less pronounced, but feels like mostly the same Taste - Quite hot, dark chocolate, prunes, dark raisins, sweet soy sauce, hoisin sauce (w/ water) More dark chocolate, raisins, prunes, hoisin sauce Finish - Lingering heat, hoisin sauce, raisins, prunes, chocolate, leather (w/ water) Less heat, hoisin sauce, ginger, cocoa powder Score - 83/100 Final Thoughts - It's been a while since I've had an amontillado finished whisky, but for some reason this doesn't really scream amontillado to me. This feels like it was a very wet sherry cask, almost oloroso/px levels of dark, but maybe that's just the Taiwan climate doing its thing on barrels. It had a very dark sweet vibe, but wasn't overly sweet like a oloroso or px might be. Once I noticed the similarities to hoisin sauce though, that's all I could really taste. Would I drink it if offered? - Yes Would I specifically order it? - Maybe Would I buy a bottle? - No NOTE - All reviews are done without factoring in price.