Kaiyo Whisky: Japanese Mizunara Oak (Japanese/Hong Kong Blended Malt Whisky: 43% ABV)
Visual: Pale gold, with slow streaks from the spirit.
Nose: Toffee. Sour dough. Nutty. Light orange. Water brings out kind of iced cream to whipped cream mix.
Body: Toffee. Apple. Cashew nuts. Sour dough. Apple pie. Pecan pie. Light orange. Water brings out doughnuts. Sugared almonds. Toffee pavlova. Calvados. Coffee cake.
Finish: Sour dough. Pecan pie. Dried banana to dry banoffee. Toffee. Water adds almonds and pecans. Apple. Peppery. Milky coffee.
Conclusion: Ok, initially I thought this had a very gentle touch of the mizunara oak, it showed a delicate grace of it that is unusual in my limited experience of this very powerful and influential oak. Then I reached the finish of the whisky and ohh there it is reaching out and showing itself!
Neat it started out with a familiar gentle toffee in the body, but with a nutty character I associate with Mizunara and that sour dough like odd twist that seems to be one of its distinctive elements. However it was definitely less overpowering than the similar flavours I had encountered in the Glendalough Mizunara Finish. Then in the finish the oak became much more obvious as mentioned, lots more of the sour dough, nuts, now with pecan notes – much more intense than the rest of the whisky and a real flavor punch on the way out.
Like this it is nice, slightly understated, a bunch of familiar notes, a bit of mizunara in there, not special but nice. Then you add water and that really brings the whisky out to its best. Apple notes that were hinted at before become more evident and wider ranging, and that is the just start.
The nuttiness expands massively, mixing with coffee cake notes and pecan pie style. The toffee gains a light dried banana to give a kind of dry take on banoffee hint. This opens up so much and is so rewarding with water.
I am very surprised and impressed with this – a very solid toffee and vanilla sweet base whisky, then build on layer by later to make something far more than that.
Easy to drink, rewarding, a big success here.
Background: Ok, wow where to start with this one. I found this at Dark Horse Bar and initially thought it was Japanese whisky, and so was confused to find out it was marked on the back as being from Hong Kong – so, Hong Kong whisky aged in the hard to get and use Mizunara oak, well that intrigued me and I decided to notes on it. However turned out it was more complicated than that. The full story can be found at this site, which is my main source, but long story short, looks like this is independently bought Japanese Single Malt that was young at the time, teaspooned (a single teaspoon of another whisky added so it is no longer technically single malt), then aged – in this case at least partially aged at sea in international waters – so by some definitions no longer Japanese whisky (best I can tell the Japanese definition legally of Japanese whisky is quite loose, though I heard they were looking to tighten that up), which is then bottled in Hong Kong. So kind of a nowhere whisky, but mainly a Japanese one. Anyway, I had this after seeing a play at the theater and decided to do a tasting note to round off the night. I have tried a few Minzunara Oak aged or finished whiskies recently and loved the chance to try and get a better handle on this very influential oak.
