We spent some time trying to find a brilliant way to begin this review, imagining weird ways to introduce the Yamazaki Mizunara, speaking of Japanese men, pixelated porn, lotus flowers and very small flats, but lucky you, we changed our minds. We try this 2013 version of a Yamazaki NAS, aged in Mizunara wood casks, very porous and very Japanese. A side note? You can’t find this for less than 1100 euro.
N: the nose is immediately particular, very particular. Let’s be clear: two souls are present, one is round and soft (if you allow our synesthesia) sweet, the other way more pungent, mineral (but not only) and almost salty. On one side pleasant malty notes, artisanal apricot croissants right out of the oven, very buttery; and fruit (yellow fruits with tropical spikes between coconut and sweet pineapple); on the other brine, pickles (?), salt. And something like… concentrated Aloe juice? Hints of wood and spices, as often happens with Japanese whiskies; slowly we reach a toasted note, lightly burnt (not wood but we’d say bread). Very particular indeed!
P: on the same line, perhaps even more unbalanced towards the unusual notes. Again brine, olive oil, bread and yeast; we don’t want to give the impression of a totally unsexy palate; these suggestions are indeed followed by a background of sweetness, apparently is a second violin but it’s very much alive (again croissant, even something close to white chocolate). Very curious pairing, but very harmonic and persuasive.
F: long, the woody and toasted notes come back. Pepper. Warm butter.
Very, very particular and very, very convincing. The two souls, apparently so distant, manage to coexist peacefully in splendid harmony; the magic of whisky happened once again. Our numeric judgment is 88/100, and we won’t waste time and words over the Japanese whisky bubble, the price of oriental whiskies and pixelated porn.
Recommended soundtrack: Aaron Neville – Hercules.
