One of the very rare bottlings of Kawasaki by Ichirio Akuto. Only a handful of single casks have ever been bottled from this lost Japanese grain distillery.

This is the 1982 vintage from Ichiro.

Mouth (neat): extremely powerful and sweet, reminding me of some high-strength American rye. Big coconut! With water – because yes water is obligatory: a bed of many fruits and many spices. Kumquats, ripe mangos, coconut and raisins plus cloves, cinnamon, ginger, Chinese anise and liquorice, the whole being very rich and creamy, it’s almost a liqueur (something reminds me Compass Box’s excellent Orangerie). Finish: very long, rich, liqueurish. Some pepper and ginger in the aftertaste as well as touches of litchis. Comments: I’m not a grain guy but I cannot deny this is of extremely high quality. Imagine all those casks had been lost (or forgotten, at least) and were rediscovered very recently!