
Lauren Hunter
May 26, 2026, 05:20:44
Popped this one open last night. Colour’s a proper full gold, glinting in the glass like polished bronze.
Nose hit me first with this thick, herbal, almost menthol tobacco whiff — reminds me of old rolling tobacco left too long in a tin with a menthol filter, if you know the sort. There’s a definite ripe pear thing underneath, but it’s a dirtier pear, almost stewed, not fresh off the tree. My first scribble just said “oils and varnishes,” and I wasn’t wrong. Sniff deeper and you get this furniture polish edge, not unpleasant, more like an old workshop.
Tasting it neat… chewy, isn’t it? Thicker body than I expected. That herbal-baccy thing rolls right across the tongue, then the aftertaste leaves a cracked varnish note that lingers for ages. It’s right there with something raw and grain-forward, almost closer to the wash than the spirit in some ways, proper unpolished charm.
Added a few drops of water and the whole thing shifted. Pears came out more, slightly sweeter, but the mouthfeel got oilier — coating, almost waxy. The back end turned a bit more profound, deeper, with the herbal note getting greener. Strange one though, the varnish in the finish didn’t vanish, just tucked itself behind the fruit.
The lad at the tasting kept going on about the ex-Karuizawa still being used here, and yeah, you can see why — there’s a whisper of that style, a certain weight and an obvious asset to the spirit’s backbone. Then he poured a sister dram from two wee casks of Shizuoka and we all were like “so close and yet so different.” Both had their own respective merits, these oily, varnish-thick characters, but this one stayed dirtier, the other cleaner. I’d probably repeat the same comments from tonight if I tried them blind next week. Funny how water changes them both, but this one stays more stubborn, more raw. Worth a second dram.