Ichiro’s Malt Chichibu IPA Cask Finish

Thanks to Bananavanman for sharing this dram with me. I got to ride on the Japanese whisky boat a tiny, tiny bit. Mostly due to awesome friends and dumb luck. If you haven’t, I’ll be the first to say the Amazing Japanese whiskies boat has sailed so far away it’s in whatever country you can imagine is […]

Nikka Black Clear

Thanks to /u/ScotchGuyTO for this dram. A quick recap on my cantankerous position on Japanese whisky: It can be great, it’s so popular that the stuff you can get ahold of without selling a small family sedan typically isn’t. Typically. Enter Nikka Black Clear, 7-Eleven’s own brand of Japanese whisky, available for less than a 10-spot, and available at each corner in […]

Hibiki Japanese Harmony [Re-Review]

Thanks to my buddy John for sharing a dram of this one. Hibiki 30… is not being reviewed today. It is the Hibiki white whale that I search for. Wait, that seems familiar. Let’s go a different route. Hibiki Japanese Harmony is a blended malt from Hibiki meant to mimic music, with high and low notes, […]

Mars Iwai / Mars Iwai Tradition

Thanks to my buddy John for sharing these as part of a tasting we had in summer. Japanese whisky. Wait, wait, I’m not about to gush all over it. As I never really have. Also I’m not going to hate on it either. So if I’m not here to bury or praise Caesar (or Tojo, […]

Toki Suntory Whisky

Thank you to /u/distillasian for pouring me this sample. So one day I started ranting to my whisky friends about Toki Suntory Whisky. Why? Because we’re a bunch of snobs who have had cask strength, age stated, now long gone/way too expensive Japanese whisky. And during this Japanese whisky boom, where everyone and their mother will tell you […]

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 […]

Karuizawa 10 1996 Single Cask – Sample Bottle

Thanks to /u/walking_spanish for the sample. If you’re like me, Karuizawa is that word you know you can’t pronounce correctly (‘karo-zau-wa’) that means “whisky I can’t possibly afford a bottle of”. But why? Well, Japanese whisky is one of those things we need to discuss. Because there’s a lot of misinformation on. First up, the main elephant […]

Ichiro’s Malt Chichibu The Peated 2011

Thanks to /u/xile_ for the sample. I’ve had Ichiro’s malts before. The big thing about them is the card series. Also how legendary Hanyu is and the fact that it closed down. I’m also pretty bad at trying a lot of legendary drams. It’s no real surprise: I’m not rich and I don’t say only nice things […]

Ohishi Rice Whisky Sherry Cask

Thanks to /u/nsquare14 for sending me some samples. Really appreciate these, as he sent me some I’ve never reviewed as a thank you for the reviews. Ohishi distillery was founded in 1872. They are the closest distillery to the Kuma River, known for superior water quality. I assume that it involves robots making it better somehow. […]

Akashi White Oak Blend

I’d like to thank BarleyMania for this bottle, which was brought over by a friend of mine who happened to be in Germany at that time. Japanese whisky. A simplistic google search will show that it is gold that flows from the Heavens, given to us by Kami-no-Kaze, sprinkled down into the minds of genius makers who […]