Hibiki Blender's Choice

Balanced. Floral, fruity, vanilla and caramel notes. Light bodied with a mild/smooth finish.

Hibiki is known to be the best blended whisky in the world, at least its 21yo expression has been accumulating awards non-stop. When i tasted that expression i truly recognized it as the best blend i have ever had, but it wasn't too far from their own 17yo. Well, the 17yo is gone (at least for a while) and now suntory has replaced it with this "Blender's Choice", which is a NAS of "their rarest whiskies, some of them matured in red wine casks". Bottled at 43%abv, golden color. On the nose it is all about Grapefruits and fresh gooseberries, it is a lovely aroma of fresh citric farm fruits where this whisky starts. Red fruits, agave and tequila hints on the borders of the glass. Thick orange candy have appeared. Lots of super fresh, super appealing fruits. Peaches. After 3 minutes a lovely milk chocolate is rising. Marshmallows and some fruit spiciness. The aroma is just incredibly well crafted, mostly citric and syrupy. On the palate, it starts with peach syrup, then a mild spiciness. Some grapefruit is rising, very easy to drink. A second sip gave me dry apricots and some saltiness. I am holding it for so long that i am actually writing this while holding it in my palate, it is that easy to drink but not very complex. Third sip gave me gooseberries. It has a Sugar and hay aftertaste. Very thick and rounded. It is delivered in a nice strength which is not overly strong nor weak. A second sip gave me a tobacco note, some dim earthy finish as well. Ginger. Hints of ashes and peaty profiles. Everything feels wrapped. Overall, this is a very enjoyable whisky, that can be shared with any enthusiast or begginer and they will appreciate it. It is not very complex and the spectacular nose gets the huge portion of the points here. It is not the best Hibiki, it is not better than the 17yo either. It feels this replacement manages to make happy the usual customers, but it could definitively be better. My score for it is 90 over 100.