The First release from @shizuoka distillery. Limited to 5000 bottles for the Japanese market; distilled using the legendary ex #karuizawa stills.⠀ ⠀ Nose:⠀ A young malty minerality to it. Presents Oats and barley sugars. Strong honey strings along with a light peaty funk. There is a grainy alcohol hit. ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ Palate:⠀ Initial arrival is quite strong initially with some ethanol sting and…plastic? However, after a bit it opens with that earthy/minerality. Digging further there is a pleasant syrupy richness. Now to be clear it is young…and it shows with a slight grainy sting; but, for a three year old malt, it demonstrates a good bit of character and oily ness. There is a dark funk to it (almost a young springbank). A light peat is present. Clove spice is also strung throughout. Fruity pears, apple and honey round it out⠀ ⠀ ⠀ Finish: ⠀ Medium…maybe even long. Left with a peat funk and syrup sweetness. Spice and full body!Pretty impressive and probably my favorite part of the dram. Again the malty character of the distillate is very clear and brought to the forefront which I greatly admire about this dram. That youth does make its self known again but it’s done well. ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ Score: 86/100⠀ Conclusion: ⠀ Alright…let’s get this out of the way. Up front I want to be clear. I’m sure at this point if you know anything about this whisky you know that this is going for close to $1000 on the secondary. I’m sure it’s due to FOMO, the fact that it’s using the legendary Karuizawa stills, or maybe because it’s the first release from this distillery with only 5000 limited to Japanese market. So I can understand why it would be going for above retail (which was about $85-$89) at this point; however, do I think this is a $200 plus (or let’s be honest not less than $700) bottle…absolutely not. ⠀ ⠀ It’s good don’t get me wrong, especially for a three year old age! And, I will admit, it’s an awesome piece of Japanese history. But the current market prices this is driving is insane. So, for me I’m glad I got to try it and experience something unique; can’t wait for when they put out older stuff. But please for the love of god…if you are going to pay secondary for this…proceed with caution. Or don’t🤷🏽😂 that’s just my opinion 😉