Hakushu 12

Oh, am I late for the community review? Of course. I take half a month to drink my fanny off (that means vagina in the UK) and I miss the main event. As usual.

Wa-wa (imagine that as a sad sound effect).

I apologize I didn’t walk into this bar a few weeks earlier and could have added all the genitalia jokes mixed with historical commentary on the war of the roses to the community review (I am actually feeling pretty bad about missing it).

I’m still in the same bar as my two reviews on /r/bourbon. I’m also running out of pounds to buy whisky.

None the less, I will review this Japanese whisky, if not for you all, but for my idiom. Because this is one of the last whiskies I reviewed on vacation, due to Iceland being closed on Sunday (seriously, the whole country).

Hakushu 12 comes from Japan, from the original distillery built in the far-off year of 1973. I’d make a joke here, however that’s older than me. Heck, the new building, Hakushu Higashi, was built a year before I was born, so so much for making jokes about the 70s.

You’re all old if you groaned there.

Hakushu 12 replaced the much lauded 10 year make of the same name. Owned by Suntory, who own a lot of thing (seriously, google them), has it as the second on the rung of the malts ladder, with the Distiller’s Reserve being one rung below. Or just alphabetically, I’d have to try the other one. Answer if you know.

So, let’s see how the “Whisky to try in order to Get into Japanese Whisky” tastes, shall we?

Price: No in LCBO Sempai

Region: Japan

Abv: 43.5%

Colour: 10Y 9/6

Nose: Smoke, lemon pudding, caramel, raspberry, peach, plum

Now I want to make a smoked pastry dish that has jam in it. Damn my love of English/Southern US Hybrid foods.

Sweet. More so fruit sweet than any other sweet. The smoke helps a lot in the complexity of the nose. Tasty and even a little creamy smelling (that’s a thing, right?)

Taste: Watermelon, smoke, earth, raspberry drink, cocoa, cream, brown butter

Better than the nose. Still, it’s a little watery, however the different notes around the watery fruit and smoke help bump up some fake, don’t matter points in my book.

The points matter to me. Just not to you. I think. Maybe.

I’d like to buy a vowel.

Finish: Taro, floral, sesame/peanut, oak, smoke, star anise, dry pear

I usually start getting all “White Guilt” when I pick up Asian notes in Asian whisky, however it’s very evident here. So no white guilt today. I may even wear cotton again.

Conclusion: The nose is kinda meh, the taste gets better, though is still watery, and then the finish is the real amazing part. Honestly the finish makes me really want to try more Hakushu drams (this is only my third). I’d say this is good to pick up if you want to try Japanese whisky.

77/100

World Whisky review #88, Japan review #13, Whisky network review #453

1001 Whiskies to taste before you die review #213