Excerpt: Though like a lot of Japanese whiskies it does come across as being quite light. It feels a little oily on the palate, but I don’t get a lot of depth out of the aroma or flavor.
Excerpt: The palate is silky, with some chocolate, biscuity oak, and orange blossom honey. Water brings those green notes forward to add freshness to the peach cobbler sweetness. The grain revolution builds.
Excerpt: The finish is a touch more complex, layering in some chocolate raisin notes and a heavier coconut component. While it doesn’t break from the sweet stuff, it does take things out on a more interesting note than the relatively straightforward flavors of the palate.
Excerpt: This isn't terrible, but suffers from the same complex as the Coffey Grain in my opinion. It's one note, a bit hot, and just isn't all that interesting.
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House Review
Intro:
This is the sister product to Nikka's Coffey Grain product. Nikka usually only uses their Coffey stills for grain whiskey distillation, but decided to push some malt distillate through as well. They appear to do this quite often, given the amount of these bottles rotting on my shelves locally.
Nose:
Light and floral. Lots of butterscotch - bordering on bomb territory. Really perfume-y with some orange peel, lots of vanilla and faint spice.
Taste:
Thin to medium mouthfeel with a good bit of heat. Vanilla and butterscotch are really dominant and there is a light bakers bread note as well. It grows astringent with time and some cassia notes start to take shape.
Finish:
Short, loaded with pears, vanilla and butterscotch. The growing astringency continues.
Overall:
This isn't terrible, but suffers from the same complex as the Coffey Grain in my opinion. It's one note, a bit hot, and just isn't all that interesting. I don't really expect every whiskey to be super exciting and different, but this is just boring and borders on cloying while also being generally thin.
Score:
4
By t8ke
Our in house critic rates spirits on a scale of 0-10 (10 best) and is aggregated the same as external sources