In 2017 I had the Hakushu 12 YO at the Bar in Hotel Spreeblick in Germany and now I had the opportunity to taste the 18 YO at a whisky festival here in Denmark.
In my opinion many Japanese whiskies are very like Scotch and that can for me be a little disappointing thinking of the price of Japanese whisky.
Only little amounts of the Japanese whisky hit the European markets and that has to raise the prices.
When all that negative is said I also have to say they make some delicious whisky in Japan.
The 18 YO from the Forest distillery Hakushu is one of the lovely Japanese whiskies I have enjoyed.
The settings where you sip your whisky, have a large influence on what you think of it and I am trying to be objective when giving my thoughts on this one.
Let my give you a picture of the experience I had at the whisky festival: People chating al around, live music, everything was in a large tent, the smell of frying sausages, dust from the pavement and spilt beer. Not the ideal place to really get your tasting notes in place, but it was a party and people enjoyed themselves.
If I get the chance again I will have another go at this lovely whisky. Kanpai ๐ฅ
๐
ต๐
ฐ๐
ฒ๐๐
๐ฟ๐๐จ๐ฉ๐๐ก๐ก๐๐ง๐ฎ: Hakushu
๐๐๐ข๐: 18 Years Old
๐๐ฎ๐ฅ๐: Single Malt
๐พ๐ค๐ช๐ฃ๐ฉ๐ง๐ฎ: Japan
๐ผ๐๐: 18 Years old
๐ผ๐ก๐ %: 43
๐พ๐๐จ๐ ๐จ: Maybe; Ex-Bourbon and Ex-Sherry
๐พ๐๐๐ก๐ก-๐๐๐ก๐ฉ๐๐ง๐๐: ?
๐๐๐ฉ๐ช๐ง๐๐ก ๐๐ค๐ก๐ค๐ช๐ง: ?
๐ฟ๐๐จ๐ฉ๐๐ก๐ก๐๐ ๐๐ฃ: ?
๐ฝ๐ค๐ฉ๐ฉ๐ก๐๐ ๐๐ฃ: ?
๐๐๐ข๐๐ฉ๐๐: Could be hard to find. Japan are low on stock, but it is their core range.
๐ ผ๐ ๐๐ ฐ๐๐๐ ธ๐ ฝ๐ ถ ๐ ฝ๐ พ๐๐ ด๐
๐: Oranges, pear, sweet, a touch of smoke
๐: Floral, earthy, Tropical fruits, honey, some soft peat smoke, heather and a little raisin
๐: Medium to long, oily, maybe a little cinnamon
The Japanese whisky industry keep their production methods close to secret so not to many information on numbers, casks and so on – But maybe that is okay, after all it is whisky to be enjoyed whether it is made in one way or another ๐
๐ ๐ฌ๐๐ก๐ก ๐๐๐ซ๐ ๐ฉ๐๐๐จ ๐ฌ๐๐๐จ๐ ๐ฎ: ๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ฅ (5/6)
๐ ผ๐ ๐๐ ฐ๐๐ ธ๐ ฝ๐ ถ ๐๐๐๐๐ ด๐ ผ
๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ฅ – ๐๐ญ๐ฉ๐ง๐๐ค๐ง๐๐๐ฃ๐๐ง๐ฎ ๐ฌ๐๐๐จ๐ ๐ฎ – ๐๐๐๐๐ฃ๐๐ฉ๐๐ก๐ฎ ๐ ๐ ๐๐๐ฅ๐๐ง
๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ฅ – ๐ผ ๐๐๐๐ช๐ฉ๐๐๐ช๐ก ๐ฌ๐๐๐จ๐ ๐ฎ – ๐๐ฃ๐ ๐๐ค๐ง ๐ฉ๐๐ ๐จ๐๐๐ก๐
๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ฅ – ๐๐ค๐ค๐ ๐๐ฃ๐ ๐ ๐๐ค๐ฃ’๐ฉ ๐๐๐ซ๐ ๐ฉ๐ค ๐ฉ๐๐๐ฃ๐ – ๐๐ฎ ๐๐ซ๐๐ง๐ฎ๐๐๐ฎ ๐๐ง๐๐ข ๐ข๐๐ฎ๐๐
๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ฅ – ๐๐ค๐ฉ ๐๐๐ – ๐’๐ก๐ก ๐๐ค ๐๐ฉ ๐๐๐๐๐ฃ ๐จ๐ค๐ข๐ ๐๐๐ฎ
๐ฅ๐ฅ – ๐๐ฉ ๐ฌ๐๐จ ๐๐ช๐ฃ ๐ฉ๐๐จ๐ฉ๐๐ฃ๐, ๐๐ช๐ฉ ๐ ๐ข๐๐๐๐ฉ ๐ฃ๐ค๐ฉ ๐๐ค ๐๐ฉ ๐๐๐๐๐ฃ
๐ฅ – ๐๐๐ฉ’๐จ ๐๐ช๐จ๐ฉ ๐จ๐๐ฎ ๐ ๐๐๐ซ๐ ๐ฉ๐ง๐๐๐ ๐๐ฉ