Mars Komagatake Single Malt Edition Whisky 2021 700ml

92 POINTS

Gary Walsh - The Wine Front

Non chill filtered. Aged in sherry and bourbon casks. I’m not a whisky expert, and acknowledge Mike as being more well-versed in these things, not least for being half Scottish! Anyway, he did taste this with me the other week, and seemed to think I did an OK job of my assessment. Regardless, I use my wine writers palate to judge spirits, and quite frankly, I find some of the spirits reviewers to be more than a little odd in the way they describe what’s in the glass.  Closure is cork with a plastic sheath. Importer: Deja Vu Quince, walnut, wakame, brittle toffee, vanilla, toasty charred oak. It’s a bold, warming and hearty style, and in some respects, kind of throaty and atypical for a Japanese whisky. Toasty, nutty, quite high char to oak, not quite overt, but a firm signature anyway, fresh ginger, honey gloss, dark rye bread. Slight raisin richness. Packs a big toasty finish. Umami too and slightly saline, with some grainy oak tannin to close. It lacks subtlety but does offer lavish flavour and a wallop of warmth. No shortage of character. Also, I suggest a few cubes of ice in this, to let it down, and cool its boots a little.