The Whisky Exchange BLOG

Okay, cutting it fine to get this out on time, but I’m determined – so here we go (this might look familiar to readers of the last post):

Introducing (drum roll, please) Hanyu Distillery – Ichiro’s Card Series: Ten of Clubs (polite applause).

[Editor's Note: Nerd info follows - normal folk can scroll down past the photo to the next bit]

Product details:  Cask  #9032;  Distilled 1990, bottled 2008.  Matured in Hogshead.  Finished in Pedro Ximemez sherry butt.  Abv 52.4%.  576 bottles.

[Editor's Note:  The preceding information was copied off the back of the bottle's label.  Any nerds who meet Tim in the future should not be disappointed if , when questioned, he fails to remember any salient facts about this, or any other specific bottlings you're interested in.  He's not a proper nerd at all.]

N:  Rich brown sugar, giving way to summer berries, treacle, burnt toast, pleasant oak aromas of dried bark,  polished wood, hint of milky coffee, melted sugar, faint cocoa notes.  Appetising.  Develops very nicely.  Opens up and becomes more grassy with water.

P:  Rich and full, mouthcoating.  Big oak presence, but not too overbearing.  Sweet, with the flavours of the nose, plus ginger, a more noticeable maltiness and a sponge cake or castor sugar character.  Water takes the edge off and lifts a nutty character.

F:  Good length, tweedy, getting slightly dusty, hint of wet newspaper.

C:  An altogether more restrained and subtle malt than some Japanese stuff we’ve tried recently (which is good), but still with plenty of character and depth.  A malt to contemplate the evenings with.

Right, gotta fly – have a good weekend!

Cheers,

Tim

ps A special Thank You to Warren, who is sending me some Octomore Futures in the post:  The Mega Peat Face-Off  tasting is on!!

Okay, I know it’s not like me to blog on consecutive days (or even twice in a week , let’s face it), but I made a promise yesterday and I’m going to try and be true to my word.  Let’s see how long this new regime can last.  I’m a generally optimistic, glass-half-full type with a sunny disposition (particularly after a few libations, as anyone who knows me will tell you), so I’m going to stick my neck out and predict at least one more post before Friday, even though I’m in the middle of knocking out distillery profiles, which for me involves a lot of reading, surfing, fact-checking and general head-scratching.

Er, let’s crack on. The above verbiage is doing nothing for my new minimalistic outlook. 

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