A Whisky Tweet Tasting is always a lot of fun. Sharing a dram with like minded people from around the blog-o-sphere is fun. Tasting new whisky is fun. Learning is fun. Ok, this tasting is going to be fun! The tasting is with two Japanese Whisky’s kindly made available by Dekantā from Tokyo, Japan.
Organised by The Whisky Wire this Tweet Tasting gives an insight in two drams from the the world’s foremost online retailer of Japanese Whisky, Dekantā. All posts with ##DekantaWhisky can be read on June 18th 2018, 20:00 CET, on Twitter.
For this tasting I use INAO / ISO 3591:1977 tasting glassware. Why? Because I can!
This is probably one of the most expensive drams I will ever taste. The retail price level at Dekantā is $439.99. This is a 21 Year old blended dram at 58% ABV from the Yamazakura distillery.
Nose: Oak, Orange, I want to say “Sherry”, This is an intriguing nose, cinnamon, peaty malt? Some aniseed, loads of fruits, over-ripe banana?
Palette: Wowsers, Peaty, alcohol burn, powerful, pepper, wow! thats intense! Watermelon, Raisins, mellows as you keep it in the mouth, tea on the finish, liquorice, hint of smoke, vanilla Oh My! this is wonderful!!
Finish: tea on the finish, liquorice, hint of smoke, vanilla
With water:
Nose: There comes a kippers smoke note! Wonderful! OMG yes smoke eel! Thats amazing! I am literally reminded of the smoking places in Harderwijk!
Palette: some tannins developing, I want to say a wine note?
Impressions: This dram is amazing! The notes on this dram were flying all over the place during the tasting. I must admit that this dram is my favourite, if I had to choose. The older notes one only get with age makes the difference for me.
Eigashima 2011 Kikou – Ki Series
Ok, I just said the last one was probably the most expensive dram for me, but I was mistaken. This bottle retails for $649.99. It is matured in Ex-Port Ellen casks. This is a single malt. Cask 11055. At 58.4% I am expecting this to be an amazing dram. One I won’t ever be able to afford alas, but that makes this tasting a whole lot of fun. And, yes, I am preparing this text a day before the tasting, so I am biased! No blind tasting going on here now.
Nose: Oh my, what is that! Heptanol, buttery, Oily, thats a young nose I think, Aniseed, Orange Zest, Hint of floral, herbal, oak
Palette: Wow, Apple Pie, Sharp, Chocolate, mellows after a while, nice!! This tastes older then the nose suggests, hint of coffee.
Finish: Nice! a malted barley finish I like that, yes, malty finish for me
Impressions: It is just wonderful how many notes fly around during the tasting! The consent is that this dram is young. There are may sea notes as well. Many Peat notes to. And notes of peanut shells.
Conclusion:
Ok, I need to seriously get into Japanese Whisky more than I have been doing now. I will add that to my To-Do list. There is a light winner for me, being the 21 Yo Yamazakura. My motivation for that is the notes that come with age. Some of the youthful notes I like just a tad less, if I wanted to spend a full hour with a dram.
But to be honest, you cannot put a young and an older dram side by side and call which one “wins”. They are not in the same category and therefore it is unfair to compare.
iLaddie Whisky Nerd 
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