pkingmartin
Reviewed
April 9, 2021 (edited May 1, 2021)
I’ve been sitting on a sample of this for a few months now, but never wanted to review it until I had reviewed the Yamazaki 12 and could see the progression in the age statements. Since I was finally able to review that one, I can finally crack open my sample of this hyped up beast and dive in to see if it lives up to that several hundred dollar price tag.
The nose starts with a light smoky quality, thinking sandalwood incense in a faraway room but you can still smell it, and then follows with some rich caramel, candied ginger, cherry cordials, toasted marshmallow, espresso, walnuts, vanilla pods, poached pears and light ethanol burn. The taste is a medium viscous mouthfeel starting with rich caramel, candied ginger, chocolate orange, cherry, stewed cinnamon apple then spices of sage, leather and sandalwood with a light ethanol burn that finishes medium-long with chocolate covered espresso beans, candied ginger, raisins, stewed cinnamon apples, leather, and light sandalwood incense smoke that lingers for minutes.
This is certainly way better than the 12, as I had them side by side while I drank them, as this one is far richer, more balanced and better depth of flavors, but I don’t think it justifies its price nor legend. I wish I had pulled the trigger on the 18 over 10 years ago when I saw it for 100 and tried it then, as the quality might have gone down with so much demand for this one. Happy I got to try this one, but at least it was just a sample and I saved myself 850 whisky dollars to use on some other whisky hunt.
50.0
USD
per
Pour