The Whisky Agency Three Rivers Tokyo Blended Malt

I’ve written a few times of an amazing blended malt. And it would be me aiming low and hitting if I copied that here.

Whiskies that were under strength, from the 70s, that were thought to be unsellable. And someone far smarter, more talented than I took those whiskies, and has made many blends after aging them for 10 years with some Glenfarclas in an ex-sherry cask.

Isn’t that motivational? Someone took casks that were tossed aside that no one would use, and they put in the time to make something that, so far, I’ve enjoyed.

Suffice to say, these casks have been stepping forth across the world. So much so, that an independent bottler in Japan ended up with their own bottling.

The Whisky Agency Three Rivers Tokyo Blended Malt is a beautiful label, as required by whisky law in Japan. However how is the whisky? The last one I had I wasn’t a fan of because I’m a pleb who doesn’t like tobacco.

Let’s see if I can be better with this one, shall we?

Price: N/A at the LCBO

Region: Blend

Abv: 45.8%

Colour: 5Y 9/8

Nose: Peach pie, cloves, lime zest, smoke, grapefruit

Nice stone fruit and spice on this one. I’m honestly a little worried, because I keep having drams that have peach pie. So I take a break, have some water, walk away, go for a run, masturbate without breaking eye contact.

I may not be allowed back at /u/devoz place again. Or maybe twice.

So I take some time, add a little water (after tasting) and it opens up to a more tart version. It’s not overly dominated by the one complex note, and is quite tasty. Good amount of smoke to it.

Taste: Peach jam, brown sugar, guava, cinnamon, banana funk

Well developed spice and some funk to it. I went looking for the chocolate that /u/criollo_and_barley found, however I’m not as good at chocolate as he is. I’m guessing that’s the peach notes and banana I got.

Finish: Coal, peach pit, cashew, duck a l’orange, banana bread, walnut, cocoa

Finish is quite complex with earth, nuttiness, lots of orange/meatiness, and more of the funk.

Oh, and I get to taste walnuts this way without being paralyzed, so that’s nice.

Conclusion: Another home run for the now famous drams, and yet another one I’ve enjoyed from the Whisky Agency.

I’m also starting to think that there’s a specific type of tobacco that I don’t enjoy. And when I don’t note “tobacco”, I enjoy the dram, but when I do find it, I’m against it. Or maybe I’m full of it.

None the less, this delivers on a spice and well done stone fruit mix. Some tropical notes, some funk to really amp it all up, and a lovely nuttiness/meatiness to balance it all out. I still enjoyed the Whisky Agency XO, however this is a close second. Try it if you’re in Japan… or Alberta, for that matter.

84/100

Scotch review #734, Blend review #79, Whisky Network review #1217