Yamazaki 12 Year

Smell: Caramel, chocolate, apple Taste: citrus, caramel, sweet, sour aftertaste, brown sugar

Cinnamon cereal covered orange creamsicle. So easy to drink and the finish holds on for a while.

Honey front, goes to a buttery mid and finishes into a figgy dried fruits. Bryce's bachelor party, Bryce's favorite whisky

This is better for me with ice. My first experience (without ice) this was more peaty and smoky, but this time I can taste the vanilla on the front side, and the peaty flavor is less pronounced. It’s sweeter this time as well, which I really enjoy. Glad I gave it a second chance.

I always debate writing a new review vs editing an old one, here I felt a new review was correct. 400 reviews on this site, I think a few old bottles are worthy of a look back to see how I've changed. Nose - I correctly last time did a decent job with the overall profile on this. Citrus, lemon, hints of peach, touches of oak...but what I missed is that there's distinct european sherry casks in here. I said a hint of sherry, no, there's not just sherry here but really really good old school casks. Taste - I think I did well here too. Buttery and toasted oak notes. Distinct oak spice. Some vanilla, citrus, and really nice dark sherry finishing. The finish is a bit short due to a lack of ABV, lack of oily mouthfeel, likely chill filtered as well. Overall no change in my last score of 2.75, but coming back to this now I can see why a 46% and 18 year old bottle with a bit more sherry casking at this quality could drive demand for those 18's. After the last few years of worse and worse sherry casks being used, I've grown a bit jaded, I've even wondered if I've lost my mind or just don't like sherry. Nope, still love good sherry casks and here they are.