One of the anthems of my youth, buried in a dusty cassette tape collection, urged ‘don’t believe the hype’. Normally words to live by, but I’m veering against the grain because this bottle of Hakushu 12 is completely worth the hype. It’s tremendous. Despite Japanese roots, this whisky masquerades as a scotch. Sampled blind it would probably be pretty common to mistake this for a lightly peated Speyside or Campbeltown pour.
The nose is a nice blend of stone fruits, sour apples, and faint peat that leads into a malty and floral taste with a touch of brine + smoke. It’s crisp without being too polished.
Rating: The Distiller score of 92 seems on the money. Inevitably any conversation about Japanese whisky veers towards price. After hearing this bottle would be mothballed for a handful of years, curiosity had me track this down. I found a bottle for $88 at a local market of all places and felt I overpaid by $20-25, but having seen the bottle subsequently around $120, I guess that’s decent. Definitely enjoyable, but it’ll put a dent in your wallet. Cheers
88.0
USD
per
Bottle
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@jonwilkinson7309 Thanks man. Yep, that’s a classic, wish I still had the cassette tape!
Great review, and love the PE reference. That whole album was full of great anthems.
@Whiskali Cheers man. Yeah, I’d acquire another bottle for sure if I saw it at $100. My most recent sighting here in SD was at $199 while the Yamazaki 12 was $299. Craziness
Great review and nice snag - $88 is a really good price. Earlier this year, I went to my local whiskey shop here in CA and asked the owner what he thought was the best deal ($ to quality to availability) in his shop and he pointed me to the Hakushu 12 for $100. I was not disappointed; it’s a beautiful, complex whiskey. I’ve since bunkered another bottle for a rainy day. :)
Great review!
@SolanaRoots now that I “re-found” it, I will. Since I can’t ever finish a bottle ( all i have is a pour a week), I’ll end up sharing
@PBMichiganWolverine Score! You should definitely crack one of those 12Yr bottles to have open for the summertime
@dubz480 cheers! This bottle has definitely gotten scarce recently. Keep hoping I find a dusty forgotten one somewhere in my travels :)
@SolanaRoots damnit...you’re right. Just did a Find function on my MSWord catalogue of booze. I have two. Plus the 18. And the Heavily Peated. All from apparently years ago.
Nice review! I really enjoyed this one as well! SRP is $100 so finding it for under is awesome! Great find! I have yet to see it in the wild in AZ.
@dmoyer Many thanks! I bought the last one they had at the time but I’d go for another at that price if I found it
@PBMichiganWolverine Yeah it’s thoroughly enjoyable. Are you sure you don’t have a bottle tucked away somewhere in your collection? :)
@Richard-ModernDrinking Got this bottle about a year ago and almost didn’t buy it cause I thought I could find it for $75ish. Glad I did!
Definitely worth $88. I’d buy as many as I could at that price. Great dram and a nice review. Kanpai!
That's a great price
I’ve not had this, but I’ve read that location plays a lot into its flavor. It’s located in the outskirts of a mountain forest, and you get the crisp clean taste of its “terroir”