The first time I had Hakushu 12yr was at a bar in New Orleans. I had heard great things so i tried it. It wasnt very good. I have a feeling it was the last of the bottle that had been sitting half empty for a long time. A year later I had the opportunity to buy a bottle and despite my bad experience, I had heard this was getting discontinued thanks to the insane surge in demand, so I bought it. I'm definitely glad I gave this another chance. It's not outstanding and may be tough to say it's worth the price but for a bottle that may be incredibly tough to get I'm glad I got a bottle. The nose leads with green apple and mint. The palate has a heavy dose of iodine, similar to a laphroaig. The smoke also makes an appearance, but it's really on the finish where the smoke becomes more noticeable. There is a slight burn but for the most part it goes down smooth, unlike when I first had it in New Orleans and it came off incredibly hot. I was tempted to score this higher, but the price is tough to get past. It also is very similar to an Islay scotch, almost to the point it's hard to tell the difference between the two. It would still be considered a very good scotch if it actually was one, but at nearly $200 its 4x the cost. I guess if you are not interested in Japanese whisky or you are not a collector (and by collector I mean someone who likes rare spirits, not for investing purposes, just to get the opportunity to try them), then I would drop this a point since you can just buy an Islay scotch. Still very good though and even if you dont want to buy a bottle if you do see it at a bar, it's worth a try, just make sure the bottle isnt half empty.