Another year has passed and once again it’s time to put up trees, decorate our living rooms with anything shiny or sparkly, and of course the most important tradition in my household: sample a new whisky for each day of advent! Luckily the good people at Drinks by the Dram have us covered as always with their ever-growing diverse range of spirit-based advent calendars.
Japanese whisky is a category into which I have dipped my toes although it has not yet featured on this blog. With rising popularity and huge pressure on existing stock it is becoming more and more difficult to find any Japanese whisky at a reasonable price in the UK. Rather handily Drinks by the Dram produce a Japanese Whisky Advent Calendar – what better way to familiarise with the landscape than with 24 30ml samples encompassing single malts, single grains and blended whisky from across Japan?
This post tracks my journey across the Land of The Rising Sun and will (hopefully) be updated daily with my thoughts on each whisky.
1st: Okayama Single Malt
Advent begins with a single malt from Miyashita, a distillery which is relatively unknown in whisky circles. Based in the Okayama Prefecture (hence the name of today’s dram), Miyashita has been around for quite a while – indeed this whisky was released to celebrate its 100th anniversary – however it is traditionally a sake brewer, having expanded into whisky with the opening of its distillery in 2011.
Although no age is stated on the bottle we can derive it will be 3-4 years old: the whisky is said to contain spirit from the first year of operation of the distillery and was released in 2015 – the firm’s centenary year. Produced from a mix of German and locally grown barley, the whisky has seen a full maturation in ex-brandy barrels.
Nose: Starts off somewhat odd with vegetal notes reminiscent of balsamic onions. Once this settles there is a robust malty cereal character, salted porridge or the aroma of a tun room in operation! In the background there is a floral aspect of orange blossom.
Taste: Much more settled than the nose, a pleasantly creamy mouthfeel delivers soft stone fruit balanced with malt sweetness. The brandy casks make their influence felt through a sweet floral honey note. A touch of menthol can be detected towards the finish.
Finish: Sweet honey is joined by marzipan on a finish that is reasonably long for a young whisky.
There is potential here for some very tasty whisky, however the nose has some fairly prominent flaws that need sorting out which places the £140 price tag outside of the good value range.