Nose: Light grassy notes, cereal grist, and an oily, malty aroma. There is a sweet, almost floral fragrance that is reminiscent of vanilla, but I think it’s just the sweet aroma of neutral spirit. Palate: Very soft, light and sweet on the arrival. Cereal grains, yeast, a lactic note and some mild peppery spice like a subtle touch of Szechuan pepper appear in the graceful development, and there is an agreeable umami quality to the palate as well. Finish: Short. Sweet cereal notes that fade into a slightly sour aftertaste. This is the first shochu I’ve ever tasted so it’s hard to form a meaningful opinion. My immediate impression was that it reminded me of sake, but in a diluted form. Mix one part sake, one part vodka and one part distilled water … that’s what it’s like. It is far more interesting than vodka (what isn't?) and there is an aspect of both nose and palate that remind me strongly of jonge genever. That seemed odd for what I believed was a rice-based distillate, but I later discovered that this is actually made from 100% barley, so the genever connection was correct after all. I said above it’s like one third each of sake, vodka and water, well also add just a dash of white dog and you have pretty much summed this up. I tasted it neat at room temperature, then over a large ice-ball, then added a twist of lime, and then topped it up with soda water. It was very palatable in all these forms. I have not tried warming it yet but I imagine it would work just fine that way as well. I’ve settled into using this spirit as the basis for long low-alcohol drinks as we have been having some torrid weather just lately in Sydney and it's the right context for light coolers. It teams well when chilled with soda and fruit juice, and it’s a good accompaniment to lightly flavoured food. Not surprisingly it goes well with sashimi or a crisp salad with sesame-seed dressing. I probably won’t replace this bottle when it’s finished. It’s a pleasant drink but something of a niche for me, however I'll explore this genre of spirit further. It has a huge market share in Japan of course but we only see a few expressions locally, and my gut feeling is that in its particular field this one is something like the equivalent of Johnnie Walker Double Black, so I'm rating it the same. “Good” : 83/100 (3.5 stars)