Soba45
Kaiyō Japanese Mizunara Oak Cask Strength
Blended Malt — Japan
Reviewed
August 27, 2019 (edited August 18, 2020)
This one has been very well reviewed by the gang. Sandlewood, cinnamon, and other flavor notes I agree with. I think you can however often tell the measure of a cask strength whiskies maturity and complexity or lack thereoff by the way it handles water. I think this was better cask strength personally even if it was a bit hot and slightly out of balance at that abv. A bit of water and time bought out slightly bitter characteristics and diluted the flavor and a bit more overpowered it and turned it into watery ethanol. Interesting to experience Japanese wood influence though. I'd like to try the 46% offering to see if the offical watering down is more successful than my haphazard method.
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@Rick_M Yeah to me it's got my BS detectors going off as well. I think the amount of research reviewers like KL did also meant they found it suspicious. If the process is correct and the reason was to concoct a backstory then that's impressive effort.
@Soba45 - I’m not buying the “ocean aging” argument, because they could still say “distilled in Japan” and that would be a major selling point. Too many mysteries with this company.
@Slainte-Mhath @Rick_M Yeah it doesn't say it's Japanese whiskey on their website but if you read the in depth reviews who talked directly to the suppliers e.g K&L https://spiritsjournal.klwines.com/klwinescom-spirits-blog/2017/10/24/introducing-kaiyo.html the story is it's Japanese. They could all be lying but you think they'd be found out.
The company producing this whisky is based in Hong Kong. Nowhere on their bottles does it say “Japanese Whisky,” so it could be sourced from anywhere.
@Soba45 Having visited most Japanese distilleries, it would REALLY surprise me if any of them would sell casks to another company. Putting in a splash of malt from another distillery makes it even more suspicious. I am not saying it's a bad malt, I'm just doubting that it's Japanese.
@Slainte-Mhath All the reviews and info say it's from one Japanese distillery with a teaspoon from another which is why I thought I'd take a punt. I was like why put a teaspoon from another distillery in? Apparently it legally stops them putting the name of the distillery on the bottle although you'd think they would have a legal contract not to disclose anyhow.
@Soba45 Is this really Japanese? 'A blended malt whisky distilled in Japan from unrevealed sources' - that sounds alarming, it's probably Scotch or Canadian with a swift Mizunara overcoat. In other words, fake-Japanese whisky.