Nose - cherry, menthol, caramel, vanilla, buttery cinnamon, cocoa, black pepper, mint, barrel char, orange zest, anise, mild to moderate ethanol burn. Taste - salted caramel, vanilla, cherry, orange zest, black pepper, cocoa, cinnamon, menthol, sour apple, mild to moderate alcohol bite, finishing short with cherry, caramel, and sour barrel spice flavors. Well I don’t have anymore Japanese whiskies to review, so I figured Blanton’s Japan-only release would be the next best thing. And what better way for Blanton’s to make this more like a Japanese whisky than to dilute all the character out of it. The nose is light compared to its standard-strength big brother. There’s caramel, that ubiquitous Blanton’s cherry note, some cinnamon, and a hefty dose of menthol. The palate is unpleasantly thin and mentholated with more cherry, sour oak spice, and a citrusy orange zest flavor. Unfortunately when cherry and menthol notes coexist, I always think of cough syrup, and nobody wants cough syrup in their Blanton’s. So this is exactly how I’d expect your bottle of Blanton’s to taste if you left your teenager home alone for a weekend. Fortunately, there’s a quality distillate underpinning this tragedy, but it’s a tragedy nonetheless. If you find yourself in Japan one day, pick up a bottle for $60 and make your thirsty friends thirstier. But please don’t spend $250 to procure one of these on the secondary market. The third option is to have an extremely generous friend gift you a bottle. A huge shout out to @pkingmartin for being that friend for me. At least it looks pretty on the shelf.