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A blended malt from little-known Japanese whisky producer, Matsui Shuzou. It's made with whiskies sourced from Scottish distilleries, blended with Japanese whisky and volcanic-stone-filtered water. The distillery is located in the Tottori Prefecture, the least populous prefecture in Japan, well-known for its sand dunes.
Sweet oak and honey, with a hint of earthy peat.
Sherried malt comes through first with notes of raisin and cinnamon, shortly followed by toasted nuts and vanilla pod.
Touches of fresh fruit sharpness and floral barley.
Nose - I almost get apple pie somehow, but I can see "honey" too. It's all association of course, the gist is it's pleasant. Palate - Definitely sherried, this. Eases into cinnamon-raisin with (for me) faint vanilla. A little like licking a boozy sherried cinnamon bun. Finish - I'd call it 'crisp', a little floral or fruity, hard to pin it down. Medium length. tl;dr it's nice, it's got a little complexity to it, and it's pretty well-balanced once you power through the immediate sherry notes. Not to everyone's taste maybe, but then again what is?
The Kurayoshi is my all time favorite whisky I've had so far. To be honest I love Islay scotch and strong espadin mezcal so take this into account when reading my review. I usually enjoy the assault on my taste buds that the scotch and mezcal offer but for pure enjoyment I have to give the pure malt from Kurayoshi my highest mark. I haven't tried many other Japanese whiskies though but most are super clean and very complex.
The cheap screw on cap? Why?
It is amazing. I have a fair few japanese whiskey and whilst they are not all for everyone, this one is finely balanced and a subtle taste. As with all tastes it's in the mouth of the owner, but it is a wonderful addition to a collection or a special gift.
Although I should say it is a fine whiskey, I also concluded that for the price of the Kurayoshi pure malt I could have bought a much more outstanding Scottish whisky. After having tasted five different Japanese whiskeys I concluded they are overpriced comparing to equally priced Scottish whiskies that I generally prefer to all others.
£5.59 - £52.95