Nonjatta

2 New “World Wonders”: Bowmore 1996 & Bruichladdich 1992

noreply@blogger.com (Nonjatta) — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 15:02:00 +0000

Post by Stefan Van Eycken, Tokyo

The two latest releases in Whisk-e’s “World Wonders” series are out today. This time, they selected a 16yo Bowmore and a 20yo Bruichladdich, both drawn from a single hogshead and sourced from Morrison & Mackay. The artwork features two Ancient World Wonders that were located in what is now Turkey: the Temple of Diana (Artemis) at Ephesus and the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus respectively.

We’ll start with the Bruichladdich (1992/2013, #2182, 49.6%abv, 173btls). It’s very light on the nose – pineapple cream cheese, syrup, lemon tart, apple sorbet and a slight ‘metallic’ note in the background. On the palate, it’s equally light – this time, you get caramel-pear bavarois, milk chocolate and apple cider. It responds well to water: on the nose, water emphasizes fresh orchard fruit notes and on the palate, it throws some persimmons into the mix. Overall, it’s got a nice, creamy mouthfeel. The finish is medium-short on underripe mango, tiramisu and chocolate-coated Acai berries.

Moving on to the Bowmore (1996/2013, #1835, 52.6%abv, 287btls). Right off the bat, it’s clear this is something very special. The balance between smoke, brine, cereal elements and fruit is just … well, perfect. There’s beach sand, shortbread, chinsuko cookies, gentle wood smoke, a hint of grilled sardines and a suggestion of passion fruit and underripe mango. The palate is really concentrated and beautifully harmonized – pretty much as per the nose but with some allspice and a touch of candied ginger added. The finish is medium-long on smoked daikon, the aftertaste of a tropical fruit cocktail and some flor de sal crystals on your lips. Water breaks the spell a bit so I wouldn’t bother – it’s perfect the way it is, really. What can I say? It’s a phenomenal Bowmore, with all the lovely aromas and flavours that you associate with top-notch Bowmore in its mid-teens, but beautifully synthesized. Nothing sticks out, yet it’s packed with flavour, and everything’s in the right place and in the right measure. There have been a few really superb independent Bowmores from the same year recently. Coincidence? I don’t know… We’ll see. In the meantime, this is one to treasure.

Nagano Outdoor Whisky Festival 2013

noreply@blogger.com (Nonjatta) — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 10:57:00 +0000

Post by Stefan Van Eycken, Tokyo

Tickets are on sale for a very special whisky event – now in its third edition – held in the green pastures of Nagawacho in Nagano-prefecture. Whereas the previous editions were one-day events, this year’s “Outdoor Whisky Festival” has been turned into a two-day extravaganza (21-22 September).

Mamoru Tsuchiya, head honcho of the Scotch Whisky Research Centre, set up the festival in 2011. At the time, Nagano was the only prefecture to boast two distilleries (Karuizawa and Mars Shinshu) so the idea was to celebrate the start of autumn in an outdoor setting located between those two distilleries: the Blanche Takayama Ski Resort. Unfortunately, Karuizawa distillery is no longer, but the festival is very much alive. About 150 whiskies are available for sampling – including some very rare bottlings for a few hundred yen extra -; there are food booths (most of them featuring local Shinshu specialties); there’s live music (two singer-songwriters and a recorder quartet this year), a barbecue, soba making, workshops and much else.

The event is ridiculously cheap (2,500 yen for the weekend; 1,000 yen for the Saturday only and 1,500 yen for the Sunday only). Check this for more information. Also, don’t forget the “Whisky Festival in Osaka”, organized by the same people, is almost upon us (July 7th, to be precise) – if you missed the Tokyo edition, this is a good chance to catch up on what’s been happening in Japan on the whisky front.

Karuizawa 31yo 1981 (66,3%, OB for The Nectar 2013, sherry butt #4333, 94 btl.)

noreply@blogger.com (Nonjatta) — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 03:01:00 +0000

Review by Ruben of WhiskyNotes

Karuizawa 1981 single cask #4333 has just been bottled for their Belgian distributor The Nectar. It was presented last weekend during the open doors of TastToe (one of the leading whisky shops in Belgium, owned by The Nectar). The news spread rapidly and given the low yield of just 94 bottles, I suppose the vast majority is gone by now.

Nose: very direct with loads of varnished church furniture and turpentine. Hints of wood glue. Such is the intensity that it even reminds me of chlorine at times. But don’t get me wrong, it’s big and beautiful. Mint and eucalyptus, prunes, some toasted notes. Espresso. Sandalwood.
Mouth: rather extreme again. Heavy attack on liquorice, menthol and earthy sherry. Goes on with roasted chestnuts and hints of unlit matches. High on tannins and herbal notes, the oak has given everything it possibly could. A tad brutal, water is needed here.
Finish: very long, dry and even medicinal, with bitter herbs and liters of espresso.

Now let’s water (quite a lot to be honest) and do this tasting again…
Nose: nice stewed fruits come out, raisins, blackberries and prunes. More sweetness, and a better balance with the fragrant varnished notes. Hints of kirsch and roasted nuts. Also church incense and tobacco.
Mouth: on the palate too there are more fruits, but the whole stays rather dry and rough. Quite challenging – not for beginners. I’ve had rounder and more balanced 1981’s.
Finish: more or less the same. Dry and rather tannic, still plenty of coffee.

Remember the 1981 Cocktail Series which is one of my favourite Karuizawas so far – well, this one is a very different 1981. It’s an explosive sherry bomb with most of the fruitiness buried under oak extracts. Be sure to add water though, it’s a pretty good swimmer and you will unveil a lot of the classic Karuizawa character. Bottom line is an oaky palate though. Around € 320.

Read more about Karuizawa Distillery here.

SMWS-Japan 20th Anniversary Bottling (2): 29.133 (1993 Laphroaig) Review

noreply@blogger.com (Nonjatta) — Sat, 15 Jun 2013 10:00:00 +0000

Post by Stefan Van Eycken, Tokyo

Today saw the official unveiling of the 2nd release in the series of single casks exclusively bottled for the Japan branch of the SMWS to celebrate its 20th anniversary. The series features lovely “season”-themed artwork. Earlier in the year, they released a 1986 Glenfarclas (1.167, Spring 2013). Now, just in time for the humid summer, we’re getting a 1993 Laphroaig matured for 19 years in a refill hogshead and bottled at a cask-strength of 54%abv. What a treat!

On the nose, well, there’s peat, of course, but it’s quite subdued, tamed – or rather: harmonized with the other aromas – by almost two decades in wood. It’s marked by a gentle sweetness: ginger cookies, amazake, chinsuko cookies, … and there’s also a sort of lemon tea aspect to it. Water transforms the whole experience and brings out a nice vegetal dimension (barbecued vegetables) and something akin to a drowned campfire, and in the background, hints of stewed orchard fruits (apples and peaches). The palate, neat, offers smoked mackerel (saba), shortbread, candied ginger, a hint of plum jam and a touch of white pepper. Water adds more fruit, as hinted at by the nose, and also a bit of spice cake. The finish is medium-long on smoked duck, barbecued pumpkin with flor de sal and sun-scorched bales of hay.

It’s a bit risky to put a seasonal slant on whiskies but with this one, the good folk at the Society’s Japan chapter got it absolutely right – in a sort of “summer camp by the sea” way. One thing’s for sure: it’ll definitely be a part of my summer here, sea or no sea... that is, if I can get my hands on one! The first anniversary release – all 170 bottles – sold out in less than a day, so SMWS-J members seem to be very keen on these celebratory bottlings. The Laphroaig – or more accurately, bottling 29.133 “Studying rock pools on a hot day” – will be available from July 1st, only in Japan, of course.

SMWS members in the UK can read all about the Japan chapter’s anniversary in the next edition of the “Unfiltered” magazine, so keep an eye on your mailbox the first week of July. It’s a great read. And keep an eye on Nonjatta, as always, for more coverage of the 20th anniversary of the Society in Japan and much else.

Karuizawa 28yo 1984 (59,3%, N°1 Drinks for LMdW 2012, sherry butt #7975, 445 btl.)

noreply@blogger.com (Nonjatta) — Thu, 13 Jun 2013 07:49:00 +0000

Review by Ruben of WhiskyNotes

Nose: sweet, malty and elegant, but not the amount of fruitiness I was hoping for. Brown cane sugar, almond biscuits, dates and fig bread. Red berries. Some gingerbread. Big hints of tobacco and leather. After a while there are whiffs of kirsch and fragrant rosewater Turkish delight. A lighter style of Karuizawa, no smoke or anything, a tad sharp but very enjoyable.
Mouth: juicy and intense, but the sherry influence seems relatively subtle. Emphatically minty and peppery with a lot of polished sandalwood. Vague fruits (apple, gooseberries, pink grapefruit). Some nuts and vanilla.
Finish: slightly shorter than expected, showing oak and fruity sweetness. Faint hints of almonds and incense.

Another nice member of the Cocktail series by LMdW. Less intense than the 1981 Cocktail series, but fresh and juicy nonetheless. Around € 275.

Read more about Karuizawa Distillery here.

Akashi 15yo konara-finish released

noreply@blogger.com (Nonjatta) — Wed, 12 Jun 2013 07:10:00 +0000

Post by Stefan Van Eycken, Tokyo

The konara cask that yielded the 15yo Akashi.

Eigashima has just released its oldest whisky to date, a 15 year-old. Not only that, it’s the oldest whisky they have – well, had – and it will take a long time before the stock currently maturing in their warehouse by the Akashi strait will be in its mid-teens. (We spent a couple of hours rummaging through their warehouse a few months ago, so this is not hear-say or some sort of PR stunt!)

But there’s something else that sets this release apart: it is – to our knowledge – the first whisky matured in Japanese “konara” oak. Konara (Quercus serrata) is the little brother of the famous mizunara (which is also called “oonara” – “nara” meaning “oak”, and the prefix “ko-“ and “oo-” meaning “small” and “big”, respectively). Eigashima uses konara oak to mature some of their nihonshu (at a different location, further north, on the main island of Japan) and when they decided to transfer some of their oldest stock to ex-white wine casks from their winery in Yamanashi two years and a half ago, they had enough left to fill one more cask. And so the remainder of that whisky – that had been maturing in Spanish oak ex-sherry wood for 12 years and a half – was transferred to a virgin konara cask. Last year, they released the wine-finished casks (as a 14yo, in 2 different batches). Now, finally, after 2 years and a half of further maturation in konara, their 15yo is available. It’s bottled at 58%abv, non-chill filtered and non-coloured, and will retail for around 10,000 yen (500ml). There are 795 bottles, which may like seem like a lot, but it always seems like that until you see the "sold out" sign.

The small warehouse at Eigashima.

We happened to be at the distillery last March and caught a glimpse of that lone konara cask in their small warehouse (where casks that are almost ready for bottling are transferred to from the big warehouse). It’ll be interesting to see what it contributed to the flavour profile. Stay tuned for tasting notes!

Read more about Eigashima Distillery here.

Glenglassaugh 1973 ‘Seek the Ultimate’ for Campbelltoun Loch & Shinanoya

noreply@blogger.com (Nonjatta) — Wed, 05 Jun 2013 14:27:00 +0000

Post by Stefan Van Eycken, Tokyo

It’s been a year since they selected it, and a few months shy of 40 years in wood before that, but when the guys at Shinanoya label a new release “Seek the Ultimate”, we can be pretty sure it’s been worth the wait. In a few days’ time, Shinanoya, together with bar Campbelltoun Loch, will release a 1973 single cask Glenglassaugh, matured for 39 years in hogshead #874 and bottled at a cask-strength of 46.3%abv. Let’s see if we can catch a glimpse of the ultimate…

On the nose, the initial impressions are brambles, cherry sauce and golden kiwifruit. Then, after a while, a strong mango note comes through – think thick mango juice – accompanied by pear drops, Weinbergpfirsich liqueur, pineapple lumps and a hint of Nutella. There’s also a bit of sour ume candy and toasted coconut in there but the mango keeps coming back in various guises, like a varied refrain: mango juice, frozen mangoes with lemon, mango sauce, dried apple-mango, mango sorbet and so on. In the background, there are light grassy notes and a hint of woodchips. It’s hard to capture in words just how phenomenal the nose is because the great thing about all those notes is that they work together in perfect harmony. The palate, neat, elaborates on the theme of the tropical fruit mélange – pineapple, coconut milk, mango again, guava – with sour (gooseberries, lime) and bitter (grapefruit peel, aromatic bitters) accents. Again, everything’s perfectly integrated, round, smooth, no rough edges… and with an incredibly creamy mouthfeel. The finish is long on chocolate-and-passionfruit bavarois and hitotsubu-no-muscat (ひとつぶのマスカット, a sort of candied grape). Water transforms the nose – brings out gummy bears, apricots, Lady Grey tea and a bit of hay – but flattens the palate and sabotages the finish. Don’t mess with this extraordinary whisky. It’s perfect just the way it is.

We’re not fans of empty hyperbole but in this case “Seek the Ultimate” pretty much nails it. Sublime whisky? No doubt about it. Expensive? Sure (47,900yen for 500ml). Worth it? Every yen. This is one of those whiskies that etches itself in your memory once you’ve tried it and reconfigures your internal whisky map. Things will never be the same again...

Mars Iwai Tradition Wine Cask Finish

noreply@blogger.com (Nonjatta) — Tue, 04 Jun 2013 14:10:00 +0000

Post by Stefan Van Eycken, Tokyo

Regular readers of Nonjatta will know we’re big fans of Shinshu Mars Distillery. We regularly make the trek to Nagano prefecture – which is a joy in itself – to check out what they’re up to there, whether it’s making whisky during the winter or craft beers (at Minami Shinshu Brewery, which is located on the same premises and operated by the same staff) the rest of the year. They’re experimenting in many different ways, from trying out yeast strains used to brew their beers in whisky production to maturing their spirit in extreme climate conditions elsewhere in the country. We’ll fill you in on all the details in due time, but today, we’re happy to spotlight another area they’ve been experimenting in: finishing.

Hombo Shuzo – the company behind Mars Distillery – produces many kinds of alcoholic beverages at various places in Japan, so it’s a bit surprising it took them so long to hit on the idea of using ex-red wine casks from their Chateau Mars winery in neighbouring Yamanashi prefecture to finish their whiskies. For their first project in this field, they decided to use their blended whisky “Iwai Tradition” and finish it for over a year in ex-red wine casks. It officially went on sale today but I doubt it will be around for very long. Why? Well, (a) because it’s really good; (b) it’s priced at around 2,000 yen for a 750ml bottle (yes, that’s 15 EUR/20 USD); and (c) there are only 2,495 bottles… At the same time, they’ve also repackaged their regular “Iwai Tradition” and that’s even cheaper.

With these uncharacteristically low prices (for Japanese whisky, that is), people tend to become a bit suspicious. Rest assured: the quality is there. “Iwai Tradition” is a bit of an oddity among Japanese blends, and not everyone will take to it, but we are very fond of its quirky taste profile, which features notes of rye bread, fresh pasta and baked goods. The interesting thing with the “Wine Cask Finish” is that – while there are obvious influences from the wine casks – the secondary maturation actually seems to have enhanced those grain (not as in ‘grain whisky’, but actual grains – wheat, rye, etc) notes.

Both the regular and the wine finished “Iwai Tradition” were bottled at 40%abv but because it’s a whisky with body and weight to it, it doesn’t actually feel like it needs a higher abv. It works perfectly well at 40% abv. We’ll do a head-to-head tasting of both new “Iwai Tradition” releases, and throw in one bottled a few years ago for comparison, too. But don't wait for our notes to grab a bottle or six, because by the time we get round to putting our post up, most of it may already have been snapped up by discerning whisky drinkers here.

Read more about Hombo Mars Distillery here.

Ardbeg Day Japan

noreply@blogger.com (Nonjatta) — Mon, 03 Jun 2013 13:32:00 +0000

Post by Stefan Van Eycken, Tokyo

Unless you happened to be on another planet last weekend, it was hard – as a whisky enthusiast – to miss Ardbeg Day (June 1st). This year, for the first time, Ardbeg fans in Japan had a chance to celebrate their day in style as the Japanese team had organized a special party in the heart of Tokyo, at a fantastic place called IDOL in Omotesando.

Visitors were handed a personalized Ardbeg Day Passport and the idea was to participate in various peat-related shenanigans. There was a “peat DIG”, where you had to try and fill a bucket with just enough peat so that the weight of the bucket and the peat equaled the weight of an Ardbeg magnum bottle. There was also a “peat GRAB”, where you could have a go at beating the standing record of how many peat cones you could grab with one hand and transfer from a pot to a bowl, but the most interesting corner was the “peat SMOKE” greenhouse where you could experiment with adding extra peat smoke to your Ardbeg 10. Using a special peat pistol – I’m sure this would be the hit of the year (no pun intended) among peat heads if someone were to make this generally available – and a peat cone, extra smoke was “shot” into a big glass and then covered to keep the smoke in contact with the liquid. If this sounds like a gimmick, I can assure it was much more than that: it’s an extraordinary experience. In the first phase, you just get extra smoke with your whisky, which is nice enough, but after a while some strange sort of alchemy takes places as completely new aromas and flavours start to emerge from your staple Ardbeg. It’s as if the peat smoke that’s shot into the glass acts as a sort of catalyst. Truly extraordinary. If only every bottle of Ardbeg 10 came with a little peat gun and some peat cones…

After completing these 3 “tests” – and getting your passport stamped to prove it – you had a chance to go for the “Lucky Dig”, which involved rummaging around in a big bag of barley in search of the prize you were hoping to win. It sounds like a sort of “whisky theme park”, and in a way, it was, but there was loads more going on: lots of Ardbeg to try, any way you liked; phenomenal food served on peat spades (the lotus root with horseradish worked really well with Ardbeg, as did the French blue cheese they brought out towards the end); good music; a fun crowd… and, of course, Ardbog – the new limited release – which was dug up towards the end of the party and very well received. There are whisky events literally every week here in Japan, but I’ve never seen anything quite like this: the whisky equivalent of a fun fair. Another day on the calendar to block from now on.

Karuizawa 12yo 2000 (64,3%, OB for LMdW 2013, sherry butt #166)

noreply@blogger.com (Nonjatta) — Mon, 03 Jun 2013 11:39:00 +0000

Review by Ruben of WhiskyNotes

This is the youngest single cask Karuizawa I’ve tried (and when you think about it, it will probably remain the youngest I’ll ever try). It was distilled in 2000, the last year of production at the distillery, and bottled in 2013 for La Maison du Whisky. It was made available on the 16th of May and sold out in a few hours.
Nose: quite fruity, mainly red apples and plums. Traces of apricot. Cinnamon and vanilla. Tarte tatin indeed. Some honey. Faint herbal overtones. Nicely rounded, but also a little simple and inoffensive compared to older Karuizawa.
Mouth: sweet at first, starting on rum & raisins, quickly picking up herbal notes, mint, ginger and general heat, until it becomes dry with notes of tea and walnuts. Some winey (Port) notes as well, including tannins. Takes water well, but doesn’t really bring back the roundness of the nose.
Finish: fairly long, herbal and savoury. Still some raisins but most of the fruits are gone by now.
Mixed feelings. When you forget about the typical Karuizawa profile, then the nose is really nice. Fresh (no mushrooms or rubber), just a little simple. On the palate, it’s a tad too dry and mono-dimensional with quite some wine coming out. In the same league as the Asama expressions in my opinion. Around € 120. Sold out at LMdW but usually some of their stock goes to foreign distributors afterwards.

Read more about Karuizawa Distillery here.

In the Shadow of Ichiro’s Cards: Bar Lagg Time 7th Anniversary Bottling

noreply@blogger.com (Nonjatta) — Wed, 29 May 2013 13:09:00 +0000

Post by Stefan Van Eycken, Tokyo

We’re continuing our mini series about obscure Hanyu releases related to the famous Card Series with this bottling for another Tokyo bar.

Very few people will be familiar with this particular release since it was a limited edition of – brace yourself – 24 numbered bottles. The occasion was the celebration of the 7th anniversary of Bar Lagg Time in October 2006. All nice and well, you may think, but what makes this interesting is the fact that it’s from the same cask – mizunara hogshead #9500 – as the “Two of Clubs”, which was released the following year (and in that year the abv dropped a percentage, from 58% to 57%abv).

We’re quite fond of this label, understated but playful, and a little surprised that nobody ever followed up on this brilliant “whisky for the whole family” idea: while mum and/or dad ponder the merit of the liquid inside, the kids can have some fun with the actual bottle. What’s not to like?

Read more about Hanyu Distillery here.

In the Shadow of Ichiro’s Card Series: the Secret Playing Cards

noreply@blogger.com (Nonjatta) — Mon, 27 May 2013 12:10:00 +0000

Post by Stefan Van Eycken, Tokyo

Today, we’re starting a mini series about Hanyu releases that very few people will know about, but that are linked – in some way – to Ichiro’s iconic Card Series. At the same time, it’s part of our “Whisky Labels from Japan” series (1, 2).

After Akuto-san had rescued the few hundred remaining Hanyu casks from being poured down the drain (2004-2005), he knew he couldn't just sit on them and wait for interest to grow. He knew he had to go out and bring the liquid to the people, and in order to do that, he needed the help of professionals in this field: bartenders. He started visiting bars in every nook and cranny and tried to interest bars in selling his (family’s) whisky. To make this appealing to them, he offered small, private bottling schemes: the numbers were low enough to make it a financially viable project for those bars, but significant enough to keep the money coming in and build a brand (Ichiro’s Malt) and a reputation, in the process.

One of the bars Akuto-san visited was Bar Salvador in Takadanobaba, a student neighbourhood in Shinjuku, Tokyo. The owner was interested in having an “original” whisky for his bar and was particularly fond of ex-sherry butt #9000 … or what was left of it. In 2006, most of the cask had been bottled for the “Nine of Hearts” release in Ichiro’s Card series. This was, atypically, a bottling at 46%abv. A few months later, in 2007, Bar Salvador paid for what was left in the cask but they wanted it bottled at cask-strength (56.5%abv). They also came up with an original idea for the label. There were 60 bottles and instead of having one and the same label for all the bottles, they thought it would be nice to have a few different ones. Their idea – a stroke of genius – was to use the theme of Japanese playing cards known as “hanafuda”.

“Hanafuda” – literally, “flower cards” – consist of 48 cards divided into 12 suits, one for each month of the year. The history and rules of “hanafuda” are beyond the scope of this short post, but this brief introduction makes for interesting reading. “Hanafuda” are strongly associated with illegal gambling and organized crime here in Japan – film buffs, check out Masahiro Shinoda’s “Pale Flower” (1964) – so there’s a bit of a dark side to it. However, visually, they’re far more appealing than the ace-to-king deck we’re all familiar with. Each “hanafuda” suit consists of 4 images referring to a particular flower or tree associated with a particular month of the year.

For the Bar Salvador bottling, the following images were chosen:

- “Pine with Crane” from the “Pine (Matsu)” suit [January]

- “Cherry with Curtain” from the “Cherry (Sakura)” suit [March]

- “Pampas with Full Moon” from the “Pampas (Susuki)” suit [August]

- “Willow with Poet” from the “Willow (Yanagi)” suit [November]

- “Paulownia with Phoenix” from the “Paulownia (Kiri)” suit [December]

For each label, there were 10 bottles (a total of 50 bottles) and for the remaining 10 bottles they used a special label combining the five cards above.

Had it not been for a phone call about a “strange” Hanyu someone had spotted at a bar, this beautiful little project in the margin of the official card series would have been forgotten history. The call came in the early summer of 2010, and we had little hope that the bottles would still be at the bar by then. There were only 60 of them, after all. When we visited Bar Salvador, there were only 5 left and although there will never be a complete set of this, it was fortunate that there were 5… and not 6. Why? Well, because there was no last complete set any more, and therefore, keeping it there was less important. The owner had originally intended to keep one full set unopened but somehow one of the bottles from that memorial set got opened and emptied, leaving only 5. The owner wanted to keep the set together – something to remember his drinking establishment and this little project by – but not necessarily at his place… and that’s how they ended up at Nonjatta HQ: five bottles waiting for a very special occasion to be opened and an unused label of the missing sixth bottle, the omnibus label…

Read more about Hanyu Distillery here.

Mars Komagatake 22yo and 24yo

noreply@blogger.com (Nonjatta) — Sat, 25 May 2013 08:07:00 +0000

Post by Stefan Van Eycken, Tokyo

The two new Mars releases we wrote about in our TIBS/Whisky Live 2013 report have now been released. Just to refresh your memory: there’s a 22yo and a 24yo, and both are vattings of 4 casks, but they’re very different, indeed.

The Mars Komagatake 22yo is a vatting of two American White Oak casks (#1042 and #1039), an ex-sherry cask (#384) and a refill (ex-Scotch) cask (#481), bottled at 43% abv (750ml) and with an outturn of 1,359 bottles. This retails for around 9,000 yen. Then, there’s the 24yo – and that’s really special. During yearly routine checks of their mature stock, the whisky makers at Mars discovered a quartet of ex-bourbon casks that they really liked. On further inspection, it became clear that the level in each of the casks was very low and that a release as single cask(s) was out of the question. So, they put the contents of the 4 casks together and bottled them at vatting strength (58%abv, also 750ml). The outturn? A mere 120 bottles.

It shouldn't be too hard to find the 22yo. To secure a bottle of the 24yo however, you may have to jump through a few hoops (no pun intended). It would surprise me if the few retailers who actually managed to get hold of a few bottles have the chance to put it on their shelves/online. But you never know…

Read more about Hombo Mars Distillery here.

Chichibu 3yo for Whisky Talk Fukuoka 2013

noreply@blogger.com (Nonjatta) — Sat, 25 May 2013 06:49:00 +0000

Post by Stefan Van Eycken, Tokyo

"Whisky Talk" is the highlight of the year for whisky enthusiasts based in Fukuoka. The third edition was held last weekend and it's clear that the organizers have a soft spot for Ichiro's Malts. For the 1st (2011) and 2nd edition (2012), they bottled two young Hanyu casks with eye-catching labels sporting a wolf and a crane respectively. For this year's bottling, they're continuing the animal theme with what looks like a beaver, but this time they're going for a 3-year old Chichibu. It should be available soon - priced at 11,000 yen - so keep an eye out for it, if you're a fan of this young distillery's output.

Read more about Chichibu Distillery here.

Memories of Karuizawa 3: 1996/2013

noreply@blogger.com (Nonjatta) — Fri, 24 May 2013 08:02:00 +0000

Post by Stefan Van Eycken, Tokyo

Today sees the official release of the 3rd Memories of Karuizawa. It’s available to members of Bond#1 right now; from next week, it will also be on the shelves of selected retailers here in Japan.

The 3rd release is one of the few casks left from the 1996 vintage, and it is – in fact – a sister cask (#3684) of our very own Nonjatta Karuizawa (#3681). There’s definitely family resemblance so it won’t surprise you to read that we are quite fond of this new single cask.

On the nose, there’s fruit, of course – assorted berries, dried apricots and raspberry meringue – but there’s also fresh ginger ale and grass in early summer with some very subtle wood smoke in the background. After a while, a nice orange marmalade note comes to the fore, accompanied by over-ripe kiwis, honey-roasted almonds, shiso leaf and a touch of eucalyptus. On the palate, it packs quite a punch neat: orange zest and raspberries on the attack, then slightly under-ripe grapefruit and gooseberries. It really needs water – only then does it reveal its charms on the palate: milk chocolate, hazelnut cream, nougat, candied orange peel again, ramune candy, then caramel pear mousse and pumpkin seed spread. Resistance is futile… it’s a phenomenal amalgam of flavours. The finish is long and lingering on sweet jam notes but with a lovely tart edge.

Now for the bad news: there are only 303 bottles. Since no one will bother to ready any further, we’ll just sign off wishing you a nice weekend... and it will be if you manage to score a bottle of this.

Read more about Karuizawa Distillery here.

Hakushu Heavily Peated 2013

noreply@blogger.com (Nonjatta) — Wed, 22 May 2013 13:56:00 +0000

Post by Stefan Van Eycken, Tokyo

Suntory has just announced the follow up to their widely acclaimed “Hakushu Sherry Cask 2013” (released in February). On July 2nd, the “Hakushu Heavily Peated 2013” will go on sale nationwide (Japan only). It’s bottled at 48%abv and will retail for about 9,000 yen. It’s a limited edition of 3,000 bottles and if the response is anything like what we witnessed earlier this year with the “Sherry Cask”, it won’t be around for very long. Mark the date in your agenda now or start preparing yourself for disappointment.

Read more about Hakushu Distillery here.

The “Asama Casks” and Karuizawa Cask-Strength “1st Release” for Taiwan

noreply@blogger.com (Nonjatta) — Tue, 21 May 2013 14:24:00 +0000

Post by Stefan Van Eycken, Tokyo

When Number One Drinks bought the entire remaining inventory of Karuizawa distillery, they quickly discovered the vast majority of the stock was from the 1999 and 2000 vintages, the final years of production. It was immediately clear that this relatively young malt needed to be categorized as soon as possible – there was loads of it and it was uneven in terms of taste profile – and so they brought in their Master Blender who tasted every single cask. Some casks were earmarked as “immediately ready to be bottled as single casks”, but most needed re-racking. (A few were rejected altogether.) The stock that had been put aside for vatting was nosed and tasted again to confirm the relative maturity and the taste profile. It was then decided to create two different vattings, both of which involved bringing together the liquid from a number of casks and then returning the contents to the original casks, all of which were still very active sherry butts. Obviously, since each of the original casks was less than full, fewer casks were needed to re-rack the vatted contents.

The first batch was a vatting of 77 casks – re-racked into 60 casks – that were considered to be mature already. These 77 casks were the ones needed to produce the final profile the Master Blender was looking for. The second vatting was of those casks he felt needed more maturation, with 59 casks re-racked into 46 casks. This was all carried out in late 2011, early 2012. Since then, there have been a few releases drawn from these re-racked 1999/2000 casks – let’s call them the “Asama casks”, for the sake of brevity. Everything so far has been from the first vatting:

(1) the “Asama” (46%), released in 2012 – which was first available in Sweden, and then in other markets as well;

(2) two single marrying-casks for the Tokyo International Bar Show / Whisky Live 2012, bottled at cask-strength;

(3) two “Spirit of Asama” releases for The Whisky Exchange, bottled at 48% and 55% abv respectively;

(4) a cask-strength version (61.7%) called “1st Release” for Taiwan

A fifth one – a 2013 version of the first vatting, which has benefitted from 18 months of marriage, bottled at 50.5% and with new packaging – will be launched over the summer.

Today, we’ll focus on the recent “1st Release” for Taiwan. On the nose, the initial impressions are dried fruits (raisins, dates), prune juice, porcini, polished leather and a hint of rosemary – it’s reminiscent of some A’bunadhs but with a more earthy, vegetal dimension. After a while, there are subtle hints of virgin oak, menthol, after eights, raspberry sauce, liquorice allsorts and duck a l’orange. There’s also a gentle underlying smokiness, which adds further depth. Quite an intriguing nose. Neat on the palate, you get orange zest, assorted dried fruits with prunes quite prominent again, candied ginger and white pepper but also steamed new potatoes, burdock soup, roasted capsicum and a bit of chicory. On paper – well, on the screen – it doesn’t sound like that would work, but it does and marvelously so. It’s very drinkable undiluted, but it swims well, too. Water makes it more fresh on the nose – with grassy notes and hints of overripe pears and honeydew melon – and brings out orange pound cake and lemon sablés. It’s a versatile dram and you can really tweak it to your taste and to the mood you’re in. The finish is medium-long on milk chocolate spiked with cointreau. Fabulous.

This isn’t something that was hastily thrown together. Someone with a clear vision was behind this, but there’s nothing forced about it at all. It’s as if someone knew exactly what the liquid in these casks was dreaming of being - but couldn’t be on its own - and then found a way to make it happen.

Read more about Karuizawa Distillery here.

“Deep Harmony” – a new, limited Hibiki

noreply@blogger.com (Nonjatta) — Fri, 17 May 2013 10:22:00 +0000

Post by Stefan Van Eycken, Tokyo

A few days ago, Suntory released a new no-age-statement Hibiki entitled “Deep Harmony”. This new edition is built around Hakushu malt matured in ex-red wine casks and Chita grain matured in ex-sherry casks. The blenders consider this to be a variation on the sweet and elegant taste profile of the Hibiki 17 but it’s quite unique because of the use of ex-red wine cask matured Hakushu. It’s bottled at 43% abv, and retails for 13,000 yen. The label is a ‘sakuranezu’ [a traditional Japanese sort of mauve] coloured special type of washi, suggestive of grapes (in reference to the red wine and sherry origin of the casks used to mature the components). It is exclusively available to the bar trade here in Japan, but I’m sure some bottles will find their way on local auction sites (as with the bar-exclusive umeshu-finished Yamazaki a few years ago). Stay tuned for detailed tasting notes.

Nikka Coffey Grain also to make debut in US

noreply@blogger.com (Nonjatta) — Tue, 14 May 2013 12:38:00 +0000

Post by Chris of the WhiskyWall

It appears that Nikka Whisky is confident enough to introduce another expression to its US line up. Interestingly though it is a grain whisky release instead of a malt or even a blended release (wouldn't we all love to see Nikka From the Barrel here in the US?). It has not been officially announced by Nikka Whisky or their importer Anchor Distilling Co. but Nikka looks poised to release their Coffey Grain expression here shortly as it has recently cleared the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) labeling certification process. This coincides with Nikka's imminent launch of the Coffey Grain in Japan, as announced on Nonjatta a few weeks ago. There's no word on what the price point will be at this time.

It will be interesting to see how drinkers react to a Japanese grain whisky - maybe Nikka has its sights set on taking some of the popular cocktail market with this release. Either way, I am glad that Nikka is moving towards introducing more of its expressions to the US market.

Editor's note: Label photos from TTB application approval

Karuizawas for Taiwan: 1970 Geisha with Paper Crane

noreply@blogger.com (Nonjatta) — Mon, 13 May 2013 03:00:00 +0000

Post by Stefan Van Eycken, Tokyo

We’re continuing our series of Karuizawas for Taiwan with the “Geisha with Paper Crane” 1970 (cask #6227, 61.9%abv) bottled last year.

On the nose, it’s a feast of griottines, cherry pie, strawberries in confectioners’ sugar and frangipane. But it’s a feast outdoors, because underneath, there’s grass after rain, earthy tones (burdock and murasaki imo [‘purple yams’]) and also hints of wood smoke, a bit like a campfire after rain. Later, we return to fruitier realms: roasted apple pie, white peaches, then cherries again. Water makes the red fruit notes even more prominent, but this is at the expense of some of the lovely secondary notes.

On the palate, things get really wild: orange bitters, candied orange peel, candied ginger, gooseberries, fresh rhubarb, also fresh coriander and lemongrass. The attack is incredibly sharp, fresh and incisive – a whirlpool of sour, bitter and (not too) sweet. Emerging out of this attack are notes of sudachi, celery, some apricot Danish and a hint of Pineapple Lumps (the New Zealand delicacy). This quickly segues into the finish – feint traces of kiwi jam, brambles and orange sorbet – but that’s very short as well. You may get a subtle hint of banana mousse and Jonagold apple peel later, but now we’re really stargazing with sunglasses … on a cloudy day.

In Japan, paper cranes symbolize hope, longevity and good fortune. It’s tempting to interpret the label as a sort of oblique comment on the liquid in the bottle because it’s precisely in the longevity department that this whisky is lacking, which is a bit unfortunate. The nose is incredibly seductive – promises a lot – and the attack on the palate is phenomenally intense, but the euphoria tapers off far too quickly. When things are this good, one naturally wants… well, more – so it’s a bit of a frustrating experience. This whisky is sort of like a musical tone with the attack and decay of a bell but the sustain and release of a xylophone, if you can imagine that.

In our experience, Karuizawas for Taiwan are usually top drawer; this 1970 is a bit of an anomaly, but then, you can’t win them all. Next time, we’ll check out another geisha – without paper cranes, mercifully – and an old demon. Pleasant company, surely…

Read more about Karuizawa Distillery here.

Final Curtain Call for Yamazaki 10 and Hakushu 10

noreply@blogger.com (Nonjatta) — Fri, 10 May 2013 13:05:00 +0000

Post by Stefan Van Eycken, Tokyo

When Suntory introduced their no-age statement versions of the Yamazaki and Hakushu single malt in May 2012, two things were immediately clear: (1) stocks of mature whisky were running low, and (2) the days of the 10-year old Yamazaki and Hakushu were numbered. Not in their wildest dreams two decades ago could the people at Suntory imagine that demand for their whiskies – both domestically and abroad – would be this high. When the NAS Yamazaki and Hakushu were introduced, they were obvious replacements for the resp. 10-year olds. Similarly priced and with the 10yo too close for comfort to the 12yo (but, significantly, not in price – the 12yo retailing for twice as much as the 10yo), it really felt like a changing of the guard at both distilleries. Suntory definitely closed the chapter on the Yamazaki 10 and Hakushu 10 at the end of March, which is when the last few cases were sold. Now, retailers are starting to draw the consumer’s attention to the fact that the 10-year olds are drying up quickly. So, if you haven’t tried these yet, it’s now or never. And if you have, then this may be your last chance to put a few bottles in the cabinet. It really is the final curtain call for the Yamazaki and Hakushu 10.

From TIBS/Whisky Live 2013: A chat with Douglas Cook about the TIBS Glendronach and Benriach bottlings

noreply@blogger.com (Nonjatta) — Wed, 08 May 2013 12:33:00 +0000

Post by Stefan Van Eycken, Tokyo

We were delighted to be able to spend some quality time with Douglas Cook of Benriach / Glendronach / Glenglassaugh at TIBS and we asked him about the special bottlings for the BarShow. We started with the Glendronach 2002 Sauternes Hogshead (10yo, #2534, 55.1%abv).

Douglas: A sauternes-finished single cask is actually quite unusual for Glendronach. At Glendronach, we tend to only use sherry casks for the maturation of our whisky. However, we do have a small quantity of bourbon, port and sauternes casks, and we use those casks for finishing. In this case, what we’ve done is: we’ve used a bourbon cask for nine years and finished it in a sauternes cask for about one year. So it’s actually one of the younger Glendronach bottlings we’ve ever done.

Nonjatta: It seems like there are a lot of ex-bourbon cask Glendronachs from 2002 around. What happened in 2002?

Douglas: It’s an important date because between 1996 and 2002, the distillery was mothballed. Production commenced again in 2002 and the new owners started to fill bourbon casks. That’s just part of the history of the distillery. Over time, however, as the new owners since 2008, we’ve started to re-rack – to fill sherry casks with some of those ex-bourbon casks. I suppose the whisky evolves a little bit, but we want to bring it back to the origins of sherry cask maturation. Today, actually, to find a bourbon cask from 2002 is quite hard. I honestly think there’s only a handful of them left. Sometimes my customers are interested in buying one and I speak with our director and am informed there are actually very few available to sell because they’ve been re-racked into sherry already.

In this case, what we looked for was something slightly different. We didn’t want to go down the road of sherry. We wanted to show the Glendronach spirit with a different type of maturation. So it was quite unique to have a Glendronach Sauternes 10yo.

Nonjatta: Sauternes is part of the regular Glendronach range. Is this TIBS bottling a single cask version of that?

Douglas: Well, the core product we have is a 14yo and it’s been in sauternes longer, probably closer to about 18 months to 2 years. It really depends on the cask in the batch. But in the case of the single cask bottling we’ve done for Japan, it was much shorter, so there’s only a hint of sauternes. The bourbon is much more dominant than the sauternes. It just gives you that slight grape aroma, which – obviously – comes from the sauternes.

Nonjatta: Since 2008, is wood policy at Glendronach exclusively ex-sherry, or are there other – more unusual and/or experimental – things in the works as well?

Douglas: To be honest, it’s really sherry casks. We have regular delivery of sherry casks from Jerez in the south of Spain – Pedro Ximinez puncheons and Oloroso butts, generally – so we’re trying to keep Glendronach sherry-based, as simple as possible, really, just concentrating on sherry maturation. However, that’s an expensive decision to make because it’s about 600 GBP for a good quality sherry butt. I suppose, in a way, a lot of other distilleries would choose to use more bourbon but we recognize the importance of keeping Glendronach’s traditional style.

Nonjatta: Here in Japan – as elsewhere – whisky enthusiasts are very keen on 1971 and 1972 Glendronachs. Are there many casks from the early 70s left?

Douglas: I wouldn’t say many. There are still quite a few available, but because we want to conserve those for future releases, we’ve actually had to take the unpopular decision of slowing down the sales of single casks of those. It’s about being cruel to be kind. Many people would like to buy them now, and the reality is we could easily sell them with all the emerging markets that are very keen to buy these old vintages, but we’d rather sacrifice those sales now so that we can satisfy our customers worldwide with future limited releases. We can’t really think about one market alone – we’ve got to think about everyone and that’s why we’ve taken that decision.

Nonjatta: Moving on to the Benriach for the BarShow – a 1985 hogshead (27yo, #3091, 42.2%abv) – I guess you’re also trying to conserve your casks from the 70s at that distillery.

Douglas: With Benriach, we were looking at certain vintages and, over the years, Benriach 1976 has become iconic. However, we feel that’s it actually unfair to a lot of the other vintages – to the 90s, or even younger, say 2000. So, I’ve been encouraging all our customers to look at vintages which are maybe not so well known, like the 80s. And in the 80s, we’ve got a variety of interesting casks. We selected quite a lot of samples from the distillery and the option in the case of the TIBS bottling was to go for something that was very classic Speyside, classic Benriach. It was not so much tropical fruits, but more light fruits, like apples; it also has those lovely sweet honey notes and sweet oak spices as opposed to the typical 1976 pineapple and passionfruit. We wanted to give Japanese whisky lovers the chance to experience a Benriach from a completely different era, a different period of its history but also very classic Speyside.

At Benriach, I suppose we’re a lot more progressive and innovative in terms of the styles of whisky that we create, compared with Glendronach. We have the peated range, of course, we have wood finishes, we have peated wood finishes, triple distillation, and so on. With Benriach we have quite a variety of styles, but we noticed the Japanese consumers actually like the classic styles and this was a chance to bring a new vintage to the market, which was less known than the older ones.

Nonjatta: Is this a worldwide strategy, taking attention away from the legendary 70s?

Douglas: Well, we have to do that. We still want to satisfy the consumer’s demand for single cask vintages, but once the 70s are gone, they’re gone. That’s part of it – I wouldn’t deny that. But actually, we find that consumers sometimes don’t give other vintages a chance because they’ve heard that one vintage is particularly good. And actually, it’s not like in wine; it’s more related to the cask and there are so many different factors. It was partly my influence, as well. I really wanted the customers to stop thinking about just vintages and actually think about the whisky, even if it’s from a year that’s not iconic. And that’s really what I would like people to appreciate.

Hakushu Grain Whisky Facility in production

noreply@blogger.com (Nonjatta) — Tue, 07 May 2013 09:39:00 +0000

Post by Stefan Van Eycken, Tokyo

Suntory has just announced their new Hakushu Grain Whisky Facility – part of their Hakushu plant – is in production. It was set up in December 2010. The long testing period is now officially over and grain whisky is being produced there as we write this. It is much smaller than their Chita distillery (SunGrain) – about 1/10th the size – and serves an altogether different purpose. SunGrain will keep supplying Suntory with the bulk of their grain whisky, but the idea with the Hakushu Grain Facility is to use it as a place to experiment with different grains – other than corn, that is – and different grain bills and to also closely look at other factors influencing the final product (yeast strains, etc) so that they have a wider variety of grain whisky at their disposal in the future to perfect their blends.

This is incredibly exciting news and further proof – if any were needed – that distillers in Japan are not content to rest on their laurels, but are always looking to take their art to a higher level.

Two 1977 Karuizawas for Taiwan

noreply@blogger.com (Nonjatta) — Sat, 04 May 2013 02:29:00 +0000

Post by Stefan Van Eycken, Tokyo

Today, we’re continuing our series of Karuizawas for Taiwan with two specimens from the 1977 vintage.

Karuizawa 1977 / 2011, cask #4747, 66.9%abv for Taiwan (Vintage Label)

This is one of those Karuizawas for which age is nothing but a number. It’s young at heart – vibrant, playful and with a frivolous lightness that I find quite seductive. On the nose, it offers cherry liqueur, after eights, roasted almonds, a roll in the hay (in the literal sense, although you’re free to imagine this any way you like) and tinned white peaches. Then, after a while, you may get apricot jam, grape jelly, liquorice allsorts, pear drops and a really pronounced, very sharp spearmint note. Lovely. There’s also a hint of roast duck with rum soaked apples and when you give it half an hour in the glass, there’s a suggestion of chocolate-coated coffee beans. Time in the glass is crucial here – not necessarily 30 minutes, but certainly 5 minutes or so. If you don’t give it a few minutes to settle, you may get some slight sulphur interference that may put you off, and then you’d miss out on all the loveliness that’s there. Again: give it a few minutes and it’ll clear up. Trust me.

Nothing on the nose really prepares you for the palate: sudachi, lime, pencil shavings, eucalyptus and Damask rose wax. It’s extraordinary. Sudachi is one of the signature notes of old Karuizawas – something I’ve never found in any other whiskies, Japanese or other – and here it’s at its most beautifully defined. It leads the attack, hand in hand with lime notes – refreshingly sour. Then, there’s a long interlude of pencil shavings and new plank, before the Damask rose notes (wax, rose water) enter and melt into air (the finish) rather than fade. You couldn’t orchestrate the progression of flavours and aromas any more beautifully. Water makes the nose and palate a bit more candied – personally, I prefer it without.

Karuizawa 1977 / 2011, cask #3584, 64.1%abv for Taiwan (Geisha Label)

Right from the start, it’s clear that the Geisha 1977 is much heavier, more intense and more concentrated than the Vintage 1977. The nose is really earthy, dominated by old leather, humidor notes, prunes and some great vegetal notes (burdock, potato peel). After a while, you get parmigiano stravecchio, cherries macerated in brandy, balsamico, mincemeat (just to be clear, I’m talking about the sort of stuff that goes into mince pies) and blueberry jam. Then, totally out of the blue (no pun intended), an incredibly fresh rosemary note comes piercing through. Underneath all of this, you’ll notice that with time, wood smoke becomes more prominent. It’s an incredibly complex affair: the more time you spend with it, the more it reveals but there’s never a moment where you get “everything”. Instead, you find yourself in the folds of the liquid, as it were, becoming part of a seemingly random process of unfolding and folding-back.

The palate is more compact, very integrated and therefore more difficult to analyze: old chapel notes, beech nuts, sultana raisins, a hint of kale juice, rhubarb jam... Water brings out more sweet fruit notes (overripe pears, peaches) – both on the nose and the palate – but makes it much more one-dimensional. The finish is medium-long – shorter than you’d expect – and reveals a nice chicory note.

There were only 169 bottles of the Geisha 1977. Unfortunately, we don’t know how many bottles cask #4747 (the Vintage 1977) yielded. Both were released two years ago, so – needless to say – the only chance of obtaining one of these now is on the secondary market. That being said, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a bottle of the #4747 listed on any auction site. I imagine anyone who knows what’s in the bottle would have a hard time parting with this.

Read more about Karuizawa Distillery here.

Nikka to launch Coffey Grain in Japan

noreply@blogger.com (Nonjatta) — Fri, 03 May 2013 09:20:00 +0000

Post by Stefan Van Eycken, Tokyo

On June 11th, Nikka is officially launching its regular – i.e. not a single cask (of which there have been many) – no-age-statement Coffey Grain in Japan. It was first launched in September 2012 at Whisky Live Paris, and has since been available as part of the regular Nikka range in Europe. Now, it will also be part of the standard range in the home market. For some reason, the only difference between the European and the Japanese version is the size (500ml and 700ml, respectively).

Masataka Taketsuru imported a Coffey still from Scotland in 1963. He wanted a grain spirit that was – obviously – high in alcohol content but he also wanted to retain the character of the grain, its flavours and aromas. He wasn’t very keen on the newer – more widely used – types of continuous stills, precisely because he felt they stripped the spirit of too much flavour, so he went back to the Coffey still, which is notoriously difficult to operate but produces a more characterful spirit. Nikka originally produced its grain whisky at their Nishinomiya plant, but moved their grain whisky production – and the Coffey stills – to Miyagikyo distillery in 1999. Nikka’s grain whisky is distilled in the traditional way, using mainly corn and a small amount of malted barley.

Nikka’s Coffey Grain has received a warm welcome in Europe, especially from creative bartenders who enjoy using it to give classic cocktails a different slant. It’ll be interesting to see how the home front reacts to this new addition to the Nikka range. It’s bottled at 45% abv and will be priced at a little under (or over, depending on your retailer) 5,000 yen for a 700ml bottle.