Nose: Clean and fresh with a lovely creamy, vanilla-lime ice block in full swing. Quite big on citrus which is refreshing (lemon sherbet mingles with the lime). This malt has presence of dust (note: this bottle although sealed was not completely airtight and the cork very loose - lots of oxidization?). The lime is domineering with lovely hints of Sudachi. Past this, pine is evident - dusty (again) pine logs before allowing sweet peat smoke to surface. Earthiness (freshly dug rich soil). Then, Orange fruit tingles over time with thin strips of freshly cut Shiso leaf, and green tea and postatio meringue.
Taste: Menthol, very little natural citrus if any. Dried mint leaves and spicy lemon drops. That dust thing is present in mellow qualities, along with a moderate nutty feel.
Finish: Earthiness with a mixture of mellow menthol / mint attributes, and mild ginger.
Comment: Although I adore the citrus zing on the nose this will not go into WRU seal of approval. But I honestly think, again, it is due to the cork not being air-tight, which possibly may have played with the taste.
WRU seal of approval or not, these tasting notes sound rather enticing and rather reminiscent of regular Hakushu bottlings, I think. What kind of bottling is this, Clint? Old, modern? I'd be interested to learn more about this one.
ReplyDeletesame here. i've never seen it before, and the unassuming/simplicity of it over the usual bottlings is quite fascinating.
ReplyDeleteBoth the Yamazaki and Hakushu distilleries still sell their distillery bottlings in the same shaped bottle as above. Even the label is pretty much the same however, the most noticeable difference is the bottle I reviewed is labeled as a pure malt and not as a single malt which they do now. Also, on current batches of the Hakushu distillery only release they do not include the kanji for "east" which they once did (can be seen on the label above). I presume that the bottle I have is from the era when Suntory labeled their single malts as "pure malts".
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