Colour: full gold. Nose: it’s obviously not one of these wonderfully dirty-ish heavily sherried Karuizawas and in fact, the freshness and the fruitiness are quite impressive. What strikes me as well is the little smokiness, the touches of pinesap and eucalyptus – not to mention camphor – and, well, the Japanese side, hard to describe. Or maybe between sandalwood and incense? Other than that, there’s a little varnish (cellulose), touches of pencil shavings, vanilla and quite some tarte tatin (caramelised apples). A Karuizawa that may hint at other famous and beautiful Japanese malts, such as Yoichi. Mouth: I think that was very clever to reduce this baby down to 46%, because the oak’s slightly loud in the attack, just after a few fleeting notes of tinned pineapples. Mind you, not excessively so but it’s all rather less creamy and syrupy than other ex-first fill bourbons, which gives this baby a faint planky side (plus tea, cinnamon, nutmeg…) The rest is pretty perfect, with some lemon zest, some ginger tonic, quinces, apple pie and fresh cider apples. Finish: quite long, a little softer but the spices remain there, between white pepper, ginger and cinnamon. Touches of horseradish in the aftertaste. Comments: brilliant nose and a palate that’s a tad too oaky for me. Just a tad! SGP:461 - 88 points.

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