Hanyu 2000 Ichiro's Malt Six of Spades

Hanyu 1986 22 Year Old 'Part de Anges' cask #2812

And the final Hanyu from tonight's line-up! Nose: Engaging and surprising. Immediately on apricots, honey, vanilla, and licorice. The varnish note is almost plastic, but it's all good here. Almost a touch of flax oil, though it interacts in some way with the varnish. I can't quite put my finger on it, but it's distinct. Just oodles of dried...

Score 86/100

Hanyu 1988 19 Year Old Cask 9307 'Nice Butt'

I wanted to give a few offerings from Hanyu - another closed, though well-reputed - Japanese distillery, and managed to score a few sample size bottles of the stuff. Huzzah! This was a multi-hour vertical of single cask offerings. I started with the youngest, the 19 year old 'Nice Butt' bottle. Nose: Slightly jammy with red berries and tropical...

Score 87/100

Hanyu 1988 21 Year Old Noh Cask #9306

Noh refers to a tradtional form of Japanese theater with masks. Hence the label. This Japanese whisky was put to sleep in 1988 in a sherry butt that yielded 625 bottles at cask strength in 2009. The nose is very fruity on all kinds of dried fruits: dried figs, raisins, candied cherries. Delicious. Some menthol and roasted nuts. Nice touch of smoke...

Score 92/100

Hanyu 2000/2012 12 Year Old La Maison du Whisky

Hanyu Distillery was located in a town of the same name, 70 kilometres north of Tokyo. The original company was founded from a family business originally established in 1626 by the Akuto family who were sake makers in the town of Chichibu. In 1941 Isouji Akuto, representing the 19th generation of the Akuto family, built a factory in Hanyu to...

Score 84/100