Hakushu 12 Year

A gift from a visiting friend, this is my first experience with this distillery. Tasted neat from a NEAT tasting glass after a few moments rest. I've had this on a few occasions already and the bottle is about 2/3 full after this pour. It's been open for about a month. The pour is a very pale apple juice brassy color, painfully clear. The nose is all in on the apples with strong notes of sweet apple juice, tart apple skins, green apples, red delicious apples, green pears, slight lemon, lemongrass, slight grain and almost no ethanol note. This is very, very complex and also very dainty and delicate. After a while there's just the slightest hint of ash and an ephemeral note of something resembling mercurochrome. I'm loving this complexity while the whisky never becomes overpowering. Very impressive. On the palate this maintains its delicacy. There is a sweet blush of butter and honey up front that quickly dissolves into an assortment of orchard fruits, primarily Honeycrisp apple, green pears, green tea, and graham crackers. As the flavor begins to fade there's a nice transition to ginger, allspice and finally cracked pepper. The finish is moderate, fading cleanly to a lemony tartness with a bit of the bitter lemon pith left on the back of the tongue. I don't have a lot of experience with Japanese whisky. I've had Toki (not a fan), Nikka Grain (quite nice if ultimately a bit too reticent to hold my attention), Nikka From the Barrel (yes, please), Yamazaki 12 (I remember liking it but I don't remember specifics about it) and this. If this is typifies an excellent Japanese whisky, then I've done myself a disservice by not paying more attention to the category. Taken on its own this is a top tier distillate, full stop. I use a simple grading system based on bell curve distribution. Mass market quality product (Beam, JD, Woodford, Dewar's) will hover between 2 and 3. Truly good product emerges at 3.5 and above 4 are the stand-out products that offer unique tasting adventure balanced with a reachable price point. This is such a whisky. This is absolutely above average. Well above average, in fact.

The nose starts with a mild smoky quality, between fresh burnt matchsticks or ash followed by pickled ginger that transitions to sweeter notes of bubble gum with fruits of charred pineapple, honeydew and tangerine that fades to anise, Honey Nut Cheerios, Neosporin, poached pears and fresh bandages with light ethanol burn. The taste is a thin mouthfeel that starts sweet with big league chew bubble gum then fruits of pineapple, sour green apple, lemon, and grapefruit pith then some light cereal notes before a medium smoky and drying spice that slowly fades to pickled ginger, sage, sandalwood and medium tannic oak spice with a light ethanol burn. The finish is medium length that’s dry and spicy with pickled ginger, watered down wasabi or horseradish, fresh bandages, sandalwood, pineapple, lemon pith, sour green apple and ashy tannic oak. Overall, this is an average whiskey that brings in smoke, sweets, citrus and peat smoke in a thin package that is enjoyable enough, but hardly worth the $200+ dollars these appear to be going for now. Doing a side by side with the Yamazaki 12, they are very close, but the Hakushu 12 is slightly drier and smokier. Now time to figure out what to do with what’s left in my sample. After some discussion with my wife, we came up with a fun little sendoff of Hibachi style onion volcano. After carefully cutting the onions, I get my pan ready, stack these onions up, pour this whisky inside it and pull out my torch and witness Mount Hakushu blow with much more delight than drinking it.

Nose - pleasant smell of apple and pears, sugar, no burn on the nose Taste - very smooth, caramel and pear, some stone fruit kicks for a quick sec Finish - moderate length and changes flavor as it keeps going, more pear and then charred caramel, sugar, almost no burn Score - 4.5, pricey but damn good. I feel lucky to have finally found this one Scoring Legend 5.0 - Outstanding, unmatched to others 4.5 - Excellent, I will always keep a bottle in stock if possible 4.0 - Very good, quite enjoyable to drink, can consider as a solid choice 3.5 - Good, would taste again 3.0 - Average 2.5 - Acceptable, still drinkable 2.0 - Inferior, able to drink but not enjoyable 1.5 and below—wouldn’t drink again unless I am desperate

Nose: orange, honey, the slightest hint of brine and smoke theres almost a buttered popcorn note. Strawberry, a bit of vanilla. Mild raisin/date/prune. I can kind of see the fresh cut grass/hay notes some mention, but they might be muted as this bottle has been nearly empty for a while. Citrus, particularly lemon, comes out more and more as you go. Palate: earthy peat and smokiness are present but as everyone mentions they arent the stars of the show. Honey, caramel. Fruity with a briny zing. Finish: begins with a chewy malt note, full mouthfeel fades into apple and honeyed pear. Floral notes here too, apple blossom? A mild minerality.

Hakushu 12, 43% ABV. Gold Metal, International Spirits Competition, 2024. This single malt features bourbon and sherry aged woods and peated and non-peated malts. Suntory opened the Hakushu Distillery in 1973 within the foothills of Mt. Kaikoma, part of the Akaishi mountain range in central Japan. First introduced in 1994, this 12yo was discontinued in some markets in 2019 due to high demand for aged Japanese whisky, then brought back in 2021. I like it a tad better than its brethren, Yamazaki 12. Fruity early on, a little wisp of peat and spiciness in the finish works well with me. Both are excellent.

An intense, Single Malt Whisky from Japan by the Hakushu Distillery aged for 12 years; importing peat from the other side of the world to craft an authentic, smoky dram. It has an aromatic birth with notes of freshly cut grass, sliced peaches, hazelnut, honey & a hint of smoke; while an intense life adds notes of summer fruits, smoke with lemon zest & oaky malt, vanilla; that led to a long, sweet & warming death with notes of oak & cinnamon. July 2018 / January / February 2019 / July 2022