Hibiki 21 Year

Just amazing... can’t imagine whiskey getting any better.

As I wind down my whisky drinking I was lucky to receive a few drams to extend my whisky odyssey slightly longer. All the way from New York 10's of thousands of miles it was a package which had a brilliant bunch of goodies which collectively comprised an excellent semi retirement gift. First off there was this beauty. I'm not great for putting labels to what I'm tasting..i often look for inspiration in others reviews to help me articulate what I'm tasting... so I did so with this dram. Initially I thought you can tell it's quality but does it really live up to the hype? As I read through all the reviews I realised the magic was in the complexity...it has a hell of a lot of it albeit subtly. Rose water, smoke, roasted coffee beans, caramel, papaya, icing sugar, green tea, butterscotch, toasted coconut, brown sugar, green bananas, cinnamon, orange peel, apricots, plum, clove, leather, chestnut, black pepper and sandalwood. Each time I read a descriptor I was like tick, yes, aha. And there is the magic. I had a partial sample so no doubt if i worked through a bottle it'd go higher but I'll peg at at a 4.5 Thanks @PBMichiganWolverine!

smooth, rich. flawless