The Yamazaki 12, if I understand correctly is a mix of malt matured in American oak puncheon, Spanish oak sherry, peated malt, and the enigmatic Mizunara Oak. I don’t fully understand the difference between the Y12 and this YDR but as far as I can make out the YDR is a Bordeaux Wine and Sherry Cask, with just a splashing of Mizunara Oak as a token gesture. The price point difference would definitely suggest that the expensive Japanese Oak matured malt is not heavily present here. N: Light and bright. Plenty of sherry cask and bordeaux influence with winey dried fruits. Toasty barley, bitter cocoa powder, dark honey. P: Dry, medium body with warm spice. Stewed pear, sharp red berries, big toasty malt and honey in the mid palate and then vanilla, toffee and clove. F: Medium. Peaches, brown sugar, cloves and oak tannins. A slightly floral after tone but not particularly delicate or pretty. Hakushu 12 and Yamazaki 12 are unquestionably delicious whiskies and have so much to offer. But the AUD$450 price is in a word; ludicrous. Enter the Distiller Reserves. At around 1/3 of the price the DRs are supposed to be approachable representations of their fully aged counterparts. For Hakushu, the DR is a close counterpart. For Yamazaki, the DR is in my opinion a pale imitation. Complexity, depth, texture, delicacy; all are subdued or missing. If I didn’t know of the Y12 the DR still isn’t great, just the intriguing side of good. If you can’t afford the Y12, I would take a pass on this YDR. Distiller whisky taste #281 [Pictured here with a lump of Adamite on a limonite-gossan from Ojuela Mine, Mexico. Adamite is a zinc arsenate hydroxide mineral that is found in the oxidised zones above zinc ore deposits or in arsenic-bearing hydrothermal mineral zones. Pure adamite is colourless but it is most often seen with a yellow colour due to iron replacing zinc in the crystal structure.]