As I wind down my whisky drinking I was lucky to receive a few drams to extend my whisky odyssey slightly longer. All the way from New York 10's of thousands of miles it was a package which had a brilliant bunch of goodies which collectively comprised an excellent semi retirement gift.
First off there was this beauty. I'm not great for putting labels to what I'm tasting..i often look for inspiration in others reviews to help me articulate what I'm tasting... so I did so with this dram.
Initially I thought you can tell it's quality but does it really live up to the hype? As I read through all the reviews I realised the magic was in the complexity...it has a hell of a lot of it albeit subtly.
Rose water, smoke, roasted coffee beans, caramel, papaya, icing sugar, green tea, butterscotch, toasted coconut, brown sugar, green bananas, cinnamon, orange peel, apricots, plum, clove, leather, chestnut, black pepper and sandalwood.
Each time I read a descriptor I was like tick, yes, aha. And there is the magic. I had a partial sample so no doubt if i worked through a bottle it'd go higher but I'll peg at at a 4.5
Thanks @PBMichiganWolverine!
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@PBMichiganWolverine Then better open that Karuizawa before too long! There tends to be the problem that there are too few 'special occasions' for all the special bottles in the stash... Just find an excuse and pop the cork.
@Slainte-Mhath me too...and I’m in the same boat...won’t ever finish in my lifetime. Long after my passing, my son or daughter will probably be mixing my sherry matured Karuizawa with Diet Pepsi
@PBMichiganWolverine I never buy for flipping. Everything I buy is intended for drinking, but I doubt I will manage to open all bottles in my life time... and if I'd try, I'd be dead or in intensive care.
@Slainte-Mhath those are very special occasion bottles. Don’t flip and resell...your experience will be more memorable when you open it for a special occasion
@PBMichiganWolverine That was the logic behind my purchase. Prices are hitting the €1000 here, so the question remains if I am ever going to open this bottle. Same applies to the Port Ellen 12th Release and Strathisla 50yo 1965 from Gordon & MacPhail which I recently acquired in lack of a summer vacation this year. I'd call them insanity bottles.
@Slainte-Mhath @Soba45 about $700USD...still expensive, but not as much as you would’ve in US/UK/EU
@Soba45 I think I have paid ¥69,800 in July 2019.
@PBMichiganWolverine Alas, I agree
@Soba45 back then, I was complaining of this at $250, and the Yamazaki 18 at $80. I don’t think we’ll see that in our lifetimes again
@Scott_E Just wish I'd bought a bottle at $250!
@PBMichiganWolverine Definitely worth it..once in a life time dram! thanks once again :-)
@Rick_M Cheers :-). Nice way to wind down. Also have a Balcones Tequila barrel finish and Springbank 24 PBM kindly sent over. Like a kid in a candy store this week!
@Slainte-Mhath Definitely worth it! How much it set you back?
@Scott_E @Soba45 I’m just glad he didn’t have the 24yr sherry matured Springbank right before the Hibiki 21 😊
@PBMichiganWolverine @Soba45 To this day, one the best, if not the best, I have tasted.
@Rick_M to think only 8-10 years ago, I got this for barely $250, give or take. Today’s prices are insane...
@Soba45 - great review! @PBMichiganWolverine - You slipped me a sample that a few years ago, thank you! It truly is one of the great ones! Cheers! 🥃🥃
@Soba45 i think I got this years ago, maybe 2012 or so? I shared it with @LeeEvolved , @Scott_E , @Richard-ModernDrinking and a few others. This was the last 2cl or so I had left remaining. I’m glad it made it there
@Soba45 I can still see me pondering at Tokyo Station whether to buy that bottle or not... Price tag was hefty, but it only gets worse, so I pulled the trigger.