A vibrant and fresh whisky straight from the forests, mountains, and pure waters of the Southern Japanese Alps. This pure golden-colored whisky has a rich fruity aroma with a subtle smokiness. Beautiful crisp flavors of sweet pear and butter cookie lead to a dry, smoked finish.
Hakushu 12-Year Whiskey has sweet honeyed and citrusy cocoa powder, vanilla, orange, grapefruit, a little malty grain, and oak with just a hint of date and blueberry. The heat is gentle, to say the least.
This is a very citrusy and fruity whiskey that isn’t thin for its ABV, but certainly not all that thick in the grand scheme of malt whiskeys. Still, Hakushu 12 tastes very good, with the strength of a 47% or so ABV whiskey that’s plenty flavorful and very easy drink.
“Chewing” brings out a little more savory character, but it’s still just as sweet with honey, orange, grapefruit, starfruit, vanilla, roasted chocolate, dates, blueberries, roasted oak, mint, and even a little basil. I think I’m getting very faint smoke, but it’s delicate at best. The oak and cocoa powder notes pop a little more on the back and into the finish.
Vibrant citrus starts the finish with freshly eaten oranges and grapefruit, followed by a small dose of oak tannins, more dry and bitter citrus peel, and mint. After about a minute, a lot of the sweetness pulls back, leaving lightly dry citrus peel and oak tannins – the lingering taste after eating a fresh orange, which is great.
The finish is slightly darker and roasted after “chewing” with candied orange, honey, roasted grains, dark chocolate, mint, and dried hay. The finish again tapers off quickly and ends with a long-smoldering citrus peel, honey, mint, and rock sugar – just delicious.