Mars Maltage "Cosmo"

The nose is initially shiny and metallic with phenolic notes that remind you of the earliest budget scotches you had in the past. For me JW red or Dewars WL come to mind. After a few mins to breathe the malt takes over with strong notes of grain and leather. Behind all that there is some pear or white grape trying desperately to get noticed. Palate is sweeter then expected, headed in the direction of vanilla and cream, then switching mid way to the barley that was late to the party on the nose. Back of the palate is woody and dry, not unpleasant but not remarkable. There really isn’t a finish, just a little more barrel and a hint of smoke so light I thought maybe it was my neighbor lighting up across the street. Tastes good, and I would happily drink if someone was pouring, but no need to own a bottle.

This is a really interesting idea for a Japanese blend. Spirits blended from the Japanese distillery Shinshu and from undisclosed Scottish distilleries. Nose: Saccharine sweet, cherries. Has a strange artificial smell. Palate: Chocolate Hob-Nob biscuits, oak and a hint of vanilla. Finish: Dark fruit and more chocolate biscuits. Overall, initially I wasn’t sure about this whisky, but it very quickly grew on me. It’s an easy to drink and very interesting dram. I was challenged in a blind tasting to work out where it was from and this completely stumped me! The combination of Scottish and Japanese styles go surprisingly well together.

Nose: chocolatey and nutty. dates, raisins. Not a heavy nose despite those notes - they’re there but in quite a light way. Maybe a bit of clove, some very subtle honey and molasses. Palate: Sherried flavours, no surprises coming off the nose. Sarsaparilla, vanilla, a bit of a toasted note. Reminds me of that chocolate with pretzel bits in it that I had the other day. Finish: biscuity, grainy and a little like play doh. Overall: fun to try a whisky with such a big sherry influence that isn’t ‘heavy’. This was nice and middling - not too light either. Well balanced but with a good punch to it.

An intense, blended malt featuring whisky from the little-known Japanese distillery Shinshu, as well as whiskies from undisclosed Scottish distilleries. It has a delicate birth with notes of vanilla, sweet red fruit (cherry & sugary raspberry); while life adds notes of orange oil, chocolate, fresh barley & toasty oak; that led to a long & complex death with notes of fresh plum, white grape, cereals & chocolate biscuits. October 2017 / August 2022

This one is hard to explain. Sharp with a lot going on. There's sweets, there's spices, bitter and salt. Tobacco and caramel. Nose: Dark fruit and hints of wet earth and wood. After a while it becomes sweeter and more smooth. Palate: Sharp spices, wood tones together with liquerish. Bitter and also sweet on the tongue. Finish: Quite a long spicey finish, lots of wood going on and pure chocolate somewhere. A bitter ending.

WhiskeyLive Dublin 2018 This was the worst whiskey of the night at WhiskeyLive. I am sure at that stage my taste buds were overworked but there was no mistaking the poor taste of this one - I couldn't get past a sour metallic smell and taste. I followed it up with Mars Komagatake Nature of Shinshu Shinamotanpopo which was very decent (3.5) and so much better than this.