Akashi White Oak 5 White Wine Cask

 

Thanks to /u/tishpickle for pouring me this dram.

Here we are at Advent Calendar Day #12. Yes, I’m sticking to this. Now. Mostly. I don’t know, I’ve been busy, maybe I should stop all of this?

Nah, that’s silly, we came this far. So I’ve been doing blind tastings of whiskies my wife chose and sorted in a silly way.

Let’s see what’s up next, shall we?

Price: N/A at the LCBO

Region: Japan

Cask Number: 61091

Abv: 54%

Colour: 10YR 7/10

Note: Peach cobbler, cumin, herbal, mint

Alright, starts off nice. Good peach, brown sugar, and oat flavour. And then that continues. And continues. Keeps going…

Add water. Oh. Now it’s earthy and herbal. Less sweet. I guess Sherry Cask?

Taste: Peach cobbler, hot, cocoa

Simple, peach cobbler. At first, I’m impressed, and then two seconds later it’s hot. Very hot. Lots of alcohol. Water makes earth/sweetness come out but doesn’t kill the heat.

Too hot.

Finish: Butter, lime juice, peach, thyme, cloves

Hey, the finish didn’t burn and changed things up. Good for you little guy, someday you’ll be something other than a failure. Look at you!

Buttery, lime. It’s like the peach cobbler before it’s made but each element is a bit bigger. Hard

Conclusion: Overly hot, though the finish is better than expected. I mean, is it better because it’s not hot or is it worse because it’s the cohesive elements of the taste and nose? Mysteries for the cosmos.

This tastes very young, lots of burning, and needs more time. It doesn’t represent the interesting wacky things a white wine cask can do, rather just is too hot, too earthy, and too one noted. Skip.

67/100

Guess: Ex-sherry, 9-12 years old, 43-46%

Actually: Akashi White Oak 5 White Wine Cask

Well, it’s better than other Akashi, so maybe they are onto something. Perhaps if they take a few more years with their whisky then white wine casks will be a big hit. Before then? It needs more time, pure and simple.

World Whisky review #352, Japan review #39, Whisky review #1669