Yamazakura Blended Whisky, 70 cl

Product Information

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Being a distillery that’s just started operating again, I can understand them sourcing whisky despite them saying they feel obligated to not import any. That, and the quality of this blend, makes the price more forgivable. They could make this blend better, though. By “better,” I’m thinking along the lines of Douglas Laing Remarkable Regional Malts good. But, I think it’s still on the pricey side. While this deserves a 6, I’m giving it a 5 because we factor in price. Score: 5/10 Another thing that might be of note for Japanese whisky fans is that Sasanokawa Shuzo helped Ichiro Akuto store around 400 casks from the Hanyu distillery when it closed. Ichiro Akuto is known to be very helpful with sharing his knowledge with others in the Japanese spirits scene. So, it’s highly likely that Asaka Distillery will look to him for training and guidance with whisky production. Unless mandatory applicable law provides otherwise, your use of and membership to the Service are exclusively governed by Dutch law. We shall first try to settle any dispute over a dram of whisky. Disputes that cannot be settled over multiple drams of whisky shall be solely submitted to the court of Amsterdam, The Netherlands unless mandatory applicable law provides otherwise. Sasanokawa Shuzo chose the name Yamazakura because it is a combination of two important Japanese symbols in culture and society: Yama is the Japanese term for mountain, signifying the strength and poise of the spirit, while Sakura refers to cherry-trees, to relate the ephemeral beauty of the stunning blossom to the quality and sophistication of the whisky. Regardless of whether the Service offers the functionality to contribute, you are solely responsible and liable for any content and information that you create, upload, post, publish, link to, duplicate, transmit, record, display or otherwise make available on the Service or to other Members, such as chat messages, text messages, videos, audio, audio recordings, music, pictures, photographs, text and any other information or materials, whether publicly posted or privately transmitted (“Contributions”).In the mouth: The sherry components are instantly noticed just as the whisky touched my tongue. I get light but stretched out tastes of coffee, dark chocolate, the chocolate and peat mix one gets from Lagavulin 16, and chocolate malt. There’s even a tingling taste of raisins and sultanas somewhere in there. After are some light but shortened tastes of kaffir lime leaves, pepperiness, lime peel, honey and coconut sugar syrup. I also noticed that the heat here is consistent. The bite is more of at the end but it feels more like it comes from a 43% ABV whisky. Conclusions: With my limited experience of tasting Asaka whisky, it seems to me that they have a thing for two-faced whisky. Like the Pure Malt above, this is also two-faced. The aromas are more fruit-forward, while it gives off more confectionery tastes. I don’t mind that the sherry cask influence wasn’t really taken on. How much cask influence can a spirit really take in with just a four month aging period? The two Yamazakura expressions I’ll be talking about are their Pure Malt and a Newborn Japanese Spirit single cask. Nomunication.jp’s article above states that Pure Malt it is a world blend. Yamazakura’s Pure Malt is said to be a blend of various single malts which are at least five years old. These are a mix of peated and unpeated single malts aged in ex-bourbon and ex-Sherry casks. On the nose: I initially get bold but short aromas of barley, mangoes, mango skin, cooked pears and dried apricot. The ethanol heat can get inconsistent. At times it’s just in your face. There are times when it’s very well-behaved. After the initial aromas are light and short aromas of barley husk, chocolate malt, roasted coffee beans, browned apples and honeydew melons.

Without prejudice to the section Liability below, the Service may be temporarily unavailable during maintenance, updates, etc. We shall make reasonable efforts to inform you of any unavailability due to maintenance or updates. According to this Nomunication.jp article, there were four factors that caused Sasanokawa Shuzo president, Tetsuzo Yamaguchi, to decide to make whisky again in 2015. Sasanokawa Shuzo is an alcohol company that’s been around since 1765. They’re mainly known for their sake production, but they dabbled in whisky production beginning in 1946, hence the Asaka Distillery. It’s said that the distillery was granted the Tohoku region’s first whisky-making license. Because of only four months of aging, I was initially surprised at how drinkable and good this was. I’ve had way worse older whisky than this. After a bit of wondering, it hit me that I shouldn’t be surprised at all. This whisky was made by sake producers, after all. With most sake ( nihonshu) not relying on casks for flavor, it only makes sense that these guys would make sure this fermented really well. Hence, the quality of this whisky screams good fermentation. Whiskybase B.V. is the Dutch private limited liability company, having its statutory seat in Rotterdam, The Netherlands and its office at Zwaanshals 530, 3035 KS Rotterdam, The Netherlands. Whiskybase B.V. is registered with the Dutch Chamber of Commerce under no. 52072819.Each and every Member must be of legal drinking age in its country of residence to be allowed to use the Service. If no such law exists in a Member’s country of residence, the Member has to be over 21 years old to use the Service. We have the right to ask you to provide proof of your age and/or to provide further identification to prevent underage usage and/or for any other legal or legitimate purpose. By using the Service, and by creating an account you represent, warrant and confirm that you are of legal age. We may, but are not under any obligation, to release new functionalities and tools or other features for the Service every now and then. Any new functionalities, tools and features shall be part of and governed by the Terms from the moment they are launched and/or available. Further, we reserve the right to modify, change, discontinue the Service, add or remove features, update the Service, change its appearance, temporarily and permanently, at any time, in whole or any part thereof. If we decide not to exercise or enforce any right or provision of these Terms, such decision shall not constitute a waiver of such right or provision.

I recently attended an online blind tasting which had a peated Yamazakura in it. It tasted so good that I thought it was a Longrow. The revelation instantly made me curious about this whisky. The name may seem new to us, but it has old roots. Yamazakura is merely the brand of whisky that comes from the Asaka Distillery. The distillery has been around since 1946. If you dig even deeper, you’ll learn that it’s owned by Sasanokawa Shuzo. They also had a “whisky” brand called Cherry during the 1980s, but it’s said to be a mix of imported Scotch and molasses-based spirit. Japanese sake producers are known to import and use neutral cane spirit for some of their sake, so they most likely used the ones for their sake in their “whisky.” No partnership, joint venture, agency, or employment relationship is created as a result of your use of the Service.

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