Released in Spring 2014, this is one of two Distiller's Reserve single malt whiskies from Suntory in Japan. This single malt from the Yamazaki distillery is jam-packed with superb red berry notes, gained from the whisky being matured in Bordeaux wine casks and Sherry casks. It also features malt matured in Mizunara casks, adding subtle fragrant oak notes.
Classic Yamazaki strawberries and dried fruits with floral notes coming from the Mizunara cask whisky. Fragrant sandalwood and maybe coconut. Certainly a whisky where you could get lost in its nose!
The dried berries remain lively on the palate (it even develops some raspberry notes along the way), but they're dialled back a bit to make room for light oak, white peach and a small amount of spice.
Vanilla lasts and lasts, with spicy but sweet cinnamon acting as a final flourish.
Top quality Japanese whisky, and excellent value too. Can't go wrong with this, really.
better than I expected it to be. Just by hearing what was in this bottle had me excited enough to be underwhelmed but I was still blown away by the complexity in flavor, and amazingly smooth finish. For the price this is a steal
excellent
Thought I'd made a huge mistake with first few glasses as this really packs a full punch.. However for the first time ever I added a few drops of water and wow! Blew my palate with how it opened up a whirl of complex tastes - this is seriously good malt whisky which has opened my eyes to a whole new world of options, and my glass to those few drops of water I never thought would ever touch the sides of my whisky glasses.....
I received a bottle of this from my son for Christmas. Giving me, a Jock, a Japanese whisky? Obviously taking the piss! That evening, after enjoying a Glenfiddich and Glenmorangie I said "Lets try your Yamazaki" or words to that effect. Well, there's no point denying it, this is a seriously good whisky. The richness and complexity blows my staple diet to smithereens! Now I'm no expert, but I did not detected a hint of "strawberries", "rasperries" and definately not "coconut" though there is a smooth sweetness there, and this is certainly a bloody good whisky. Thankfully the balance of the universe was restored when I opened my single cask, first oak filled, 30 year old MacAllan. WOW! Another world.
I'm a big fan of Japanese whisky. I first tried this at the Yamazaki distillery just outside Kyoto. It would seem it is replacing the 10 and 12 year olds which is fine by me. It's better than both of them. My only problem is that it costs nearly twice as much here as it does in Japan!
