Whisky 2015 – 117-122 (The Mash Tun, Meguro, Tokyo)

I had two great nights at The Mash Tun in Meguro, Tokyo. It’s a short walk from Meguro station and by Tokyo standards easy to find.

The Mash Tun has the largest collection of Cadenhead bottlings I’ve seen, maybe close to 40. While many of the locals (in fact now that I think about it all of them) were tucking into Cadenhead, I was there for the Japanese stuff you just can not get in Australia.

  
117 – Ichiro’s Malt – Whisky Talk 2015
Typical Japanese creaminess, cocoa, autumn leaves, salt, slight gassy note, angry dust. Tastes like it smells. Which is unusual. The peat is really subtle. I can taste this in my throat.

118 – Blackadder and Ichiro’s malt 5 year
Chestnut honey, flour, floral, ginger, egg white, clove and cola. Honey and cola. Really delicious. The sweetness is complex like brown/black sugar.

119 – Karuizawa TIBS 2012
Rubber, apricots, chocolate, maple syrup. Rubber, vanilla, pepper, sulfur, clove, salt, maple syrup.

  
120 – Fuji Gotemba Single Grain Blender’s Choice 2014 029/500
Bananas, coconut, formic acid, some acetone, apricots with ice cream. Butter, crushed ants, vanilla, tropical fruits, toasted hazelnuts.

121 – Ichiro’s malt 2015 Tokyo International Bar Show Cask 2360
Wow just wow – favourite for the year!! Banana, ice cream, malty bread with butter, tomato paste, fruit tingles, slight vino cotto, CHICOS. Yeast, brown bread, vanilla, banana bread, prunes, plums, grapes.

  
122 – Hanyu King and 6 of Spades Cask 123 (Grappa Cask)
Slight woody pine notes, vanilla, roses, dried strawberries, chocolate and a bit medicinal. Peppery and spicy, instant coffee, a touch of vanilla, strawberries in a day old chocolate cake, length that lasts forever.

  

Whisky 2015 – 113-116

  113 – SMWS 123.9 The Big Fat Tipsy Wedding (Glengoyne)
Chocolate, menthol, pine needles, dates, maraschino cherries, pink marshmallow, cinnamon ice cream. Spicy, cola, star anise, nutmeg and eggnog.

114 – Blackadder 1991 Glencadam
Prunes, marzipan, vanilla pudding, slight plastic note, light cinnamon and chocolate mousse. Orange marmalade, salt, herbs, citrus, glacé cherries. Slightly bitter finish that isn’t quite right but gives way to marzipan.

115 – Glenfarclas 103 Proof 15 Years
Liquid paper, peach schnapps, chocolate pudding, pain aux raisin. Big fruitcake, stone fruit and raisins. Nice.

116 – Glendronach Tawny Port Finish 18 Years
Chocolate, cucumber, Brazil nuts, Mexican hot chocolate, dates, overripe banana. Sweet and elegant – slightly rubbery, chocolate and cake spice. Had a refreshing finish, almost like an iced tea with some salt and pepper.

Whisky 2015 – 108-111

108 – New World Double Cask Release #1 (port refill port first fill)
Brown bread, butter, malt, vanilla. Vanilla, pepper, malt. Best New World in ages. The huge banana bread thing is gone. More elegant and interesting. Great length due to the subdued sweetness.

109 – SMWS 119.14 (Yamazaki) Raspberry Imperial Stout
Freeze dried raspberries, vino cotto, chocolate, fake cherry flavoring, something green I can’t quite place, some woody notes, egg whites. Raspberries, maraschino cherries, cloves, slight cream, umami, cinnamon.

110 – Silver Seal Glendronach 22 years (Distilled 1990)
Musk sticks, flowers, golden syrup, molasses, honey, vanilla, yoghurt, stewed apricots, chocolate chips, rocky road. Woody, sarsaparilla, creaming soda, butter.

111 – Cadenhead Glendronach 23 year (Distilled 1990)
Coconut lemon cake, almond meal, eggy cake mix, bran. Grain, eggplant, almonds, weak honey and lemon. A bit disappointing next to the Silver Seal.

  

Whisky 2015 – 104-106

104 – Mars Maltage “Cosmo”
Green almonds, pickled onions, tequila, gin botanicals. Thin and kinda gin like with a bit of vanilla, olive brine and salt. Not really a fan.

105 – Ichiro’s Malt Mizunara Wood Release
Initially woody, creamy and crushed ants – had time to open up and now smells quite alcoholic and resiny with like almond hazelnut biscuits and tobacco. Elegant on the pallet, feels like nothing is out of place – vanilla, wood, some tropical fruits.

106 – Adelphi Glenturret 27 Years
Underripe mango, nutty and chocolate, orange zest, zinc(?!). Huge tropical fruit hit turning to the mist of rain, with passion fruit semi freddo and nougat.

Whisky 2015 – 100-103

100 – Adelphi Mortlach 27 Years
Dried orange peel, fruit cake, strawberries, Jerusalem artichokes, chestnut flour. Toffee, green dried herbs, salty, pepper, lollies, cream, vanilla, candle wick, so much in it.

101 – Limerick Selection Slaney Malt 23 Years
Hand cream, vanilla pods, hazel nuts, waxy, some tropical fruit – fruit emphasized and more friendly with water. Gassy, hollow, nut butter, salt, more sulfurous with water.

102 – Suntory Chita Grain
Maple syrup, tropical fruits and crushed ants. Vanilla, brown sugar and mango. So simple and elegant.

103 – Millstone Sherry Cask 12 Years
This Dutch whisky is mental. Huge maple syrup, rubber and spice on the nose. Crepes dripping with maple syrup, salted butter and plump raisins. Love it and so reasonably priced.

   
 

Whisky 2015 – 96-99

96 – SMWS 112.9 Cooper’s apron; perfumed mink (Loch Lomond)
Wood shavings, whipped cream, digestive biscuits, chocolate coated almonds. Candy sweetness, very thick and syrupy, vanilla icecream, oat biscuits.

97 – The Balvenie 15 Year Single Barrel Cask:10130
Rubber, Sherry, vanilla, dried fruits. Beautiful caramel hit followed by dried peaches and apricots, cardamom, cloves, vanilla bean and warm cola.

98 – Ben Nevis 10 Year Old, 2002 bottling
Sulphur, rose petals, rubber, vine leaves, caramel. Peppery, salty, sugary sweetness, sulphur and leather.

99 – Dramboree Ledaig for Whisky Exchange
Fresh shucked oysters, seaweed, like the rind on Camembert, some honey. Camembert and oysters, lick of paint. A very different dram for me – I was tasting Camembert for the next 2 hours.

Whisky 2015 – 94-95

94 – Heartwood Devil is in the Detail
Marzipan, toasted macadamias, cocoa, milk chocolate. Peppery, salty and intense vanilla cream. Had to add water it’s beautiful but really needed to chill out. With water it’s more floral on the nose with the vanilla poking through. Ok this is a weird one paper bark trees, fruit cake dripping in brandy, roasted capsicum.

95 – Berry’s 1984 Benrinnies bottles 2011
Caramel, glue and honey, cloves, cucumber in gin, hazelnuts. Warm quince cake, dry spices. Pretty bloody good.

Whisky 2015 – 92-93

92 – SMWS 120.7 (Hakushu) Sweet, fragrant and satisfying
Soy sauce, pepper, cloves. Rubber, vanilla cream, coffee trifle – almost like I’ve taken a spoonful of brown sugar. Quite dry.

93 – Limeburners Sherry Barrel Cask Strength
(You’ll think I’m crazy but the guys and I at Whisky and Alement problem solved this one) Pine wood shavings and (wait for it) frozen McCains pizza, specifically the frozen red capsicum on the pizza. Really vegetal like old cucumbers and wood. Not very nice.