Komagatake x Chichibu Malt Duo Blended Malt Japanese Whisky [Tasted #533]

Continuing our look into the current state of Japanese whisky, and following my recent tasting of the Kanosuke First Edition, we move onto Mars Whisky next (and uh, Chichibu as well), in the form of the Komagatake x Chichibu "Malt Duo" Blended Malt Japanese Whisky.

A blended malt may not seem that special, but in the world of Japanese whisky, it kind of is. Unlike Scotland, the Japanese whisky industry doesn't really have a history of cask trading. Yes, there are blends and blended malts, but they're typically either Scottish/Japanese (or "world") blends, or blends of whiskies from within one company's portfolio (Suntory's "Hibiki" being a good example of the latter, containing Yamazaki malt, Hakushu malt and Chita grain).

What makes this "Malt Duo" so special is it's a blend of two different malts from completely separate whisky distilleries, and two cult Japanese distilleries at that - Chichibu and Mars Shinshu. 

The story goes that in in 2015, Mars Shinshu Distillery and Venture Whisky's Chichibu Distillery began exchanging malt spirit and maturing it in their respective locations, and 5 years later in 2020, we have the result. This particular release was matured at Mars Shinshu distillery (and therefore contains Shinshu-matured Chichibu), whilst another release was matured at Chichibu (containing Chichibu-matured Komagatake in the blend). Still with us?  

10,918 bottles of this "Komagatake x Chichibu" were released, whilst the "Chichibu x Komagatake" was a 10,200 bottle release. 

Official HK importers of Mars Whisky, AFTrade were kind enough to provide a sample of the whisky for review. Having tried quite a few Mars whiskies on the blog previously, I was very keen to see how this one fared.

Komagatake x Chichibu "Malt Duo" Blended Malt Japanese Whisky (54% ABV, Over 5yo, Japan,  available from AFTrade)

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Colour: Golden amber.

Nose: A little heat initially, then pear, some grassiness, some herbal notes and then milk chocolate.

Palate: Personally I'd call this more "Komagatake" than "Chichibu" - I got notes of green apples, melon, chewy caramel, a youthful nuttiness, chocolate and maple syrup.

Finish: Medium in length, with the sweet maple / caramel notes quickly becoming spiced - almost like subtle chilli, with some slight oak tannins at the very end.

Rating (on my very non-scientific scale): 89/100. A tasty whisky, but more importantly, a historically important, and quite unusual bottle in the Japanese whisky market, and hopefully an indicator of thigns to come. More of this please, Japan! 

Thanks to AFTrade for the sample.

Cheers,

Martin.

Mars Komagatake Limited Edition 2018 & 2019 [Tasted #473-474]

The world of Japanese whisky is a complex one, filled with delicious drams, yes, but also traps for the unsuspecting consumer. Whilst there are many categories (some of which are explained brilliantly in this infographic from Nomunication), including blends, single malts, single grains, blended malts, single cask blends, and even shochu labelled as whisky, in my view you can loosely bucket Japanese whisky today into three broad categories:

1. "The OG's": The sort of whisky which filled the shelves just a few years ago, but now proves increasingly difficult and/or expensive to find. I'm including in here pretty much all age statement Suntory whiskies (e.g. Yamazaki, Hakushu, Hibiki), age statement Nikka whiskies (Yoichi, Miyagikyo, Taketsuru), closed distillery whiskies like the famed Karuizawa and Hanyu, and even Chichibu single malt (which even though is barely a decade old, definitely falls under the "difficult to find" and/or "expensive" banner).
2. "Fake" Japanese whisky - aka whisky sold as Japanese, but containing whisky distilled outside Japan. Now to be clear, under Japanese law this is perfectly legal (and to be even clearer, many reputable whisky brands do this with complete transparency - e.g. "world whisky" like Suntory's "Ao" & Ichiro's Malt "World Blended Whisky"), but there are an increasing number of whiskies which seem to try to "fool" the consumer into thinking they're entirely Japanese; and
3. Whisky distilled in Japan, yet is (relatively) available and affordable. Into this category falls whisky like "Nikka Coffey Malt", NAS Yoichi / Miyagikyo / Yamazaki / Hakushu (which seemed to be slightly more available on a recent trip to Japan), and Mars Whisky's range of single malt "Komagatake", including the two I'm reviewing today.

We tasted several Mars whiskies back in January this year (with President Hombo-san, no less) and this time around have two limited releases under the microscope - Mars Single Malt Komagatake Limited Editions 2018 & 2019.

It's not often you come across a (genuine) Japanese single malt, released in limited numbers, that you can easily buy, yet that's the case with these two, which are still readily available in Hong Kong (in fact I saw the 2019 edition at the airport last week!)

As non-chill filtered genuine Japanese single malts, bottled at a respectable 48% ABV,  they tick a lot of boxes on paper, but how do they stack up as whiskies to drink? Read on...

MARS Single Malt KOMAGATAKE Limited Edition 2018 (48% ABV, NAS, Japan, 1 of 10,000 bottles, $1,300HKD)
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Originally tasted back in January this year, this limited release of 10,000 bottles was aged entirely in ex-Bourbon / American White Oak barrels, and is said to include both peated and unpeated spirit, matured in Shinshu.

Colour: Light yellow gold.

Nose: Vanilla and toasted oak, slightly smoky toasted banana bread, oat cakes and faint wafts of smoke.

Palate: Toffee and caramel, then some ripe plum, orange zest, pot pouri. With time, some floral pear notes emerge.

Finish: Long, citrus with a floral lingering smoke.

Rating (on my very non-scientific scale):  88/100. A few new flavours discovered the second time around, but the score remains the same. A youthful, yet enjoyable dram.

MARS Single Malt KOMAGATAKE Limited Edition 2019 (48% ABV, NAS, Japan, $1,380HKD)
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2019's release was distilled at Mars' Shinshu distillery and vatted from Bourbon barrels and "several other types of casks" (it literally says that on the box). The exact number of bottles released isn't known, but like its 2018 counterpart, it's a one-off limited release.

Colour: Light copper gold.

Nose: Instant fruit - pear, melons (rockmelon & honeydew melon), green apples and some oak.

Palate: Follows the fruitiness of the nose. Rockmelon, apricot, marmalade, some orange slices and hints of sweet Grand Marnier.

Finish: Apple flan, slight earthy "fruit smoke", peach pie.

Rating (on my very non-scientific scale):  90/100. It's youthful and not overly complex, but it's also delicious and whilst great on its own, I imagine would make a great highball with a slice of apple.


Both 2018 and 2019 Limited Editions are available in HK from AFTrade, who kindly provided these bottles for review.

Cheers,
Martin.

Tokyo International Bar Show + Whisky Expo 2016 review

Call me a creature of habit, but a few weeks ago I did exactly the same thing I did last year, and flew to Tokyo for 36 hours to attend the 2016 Tokyo International Bar Show + Whisky Expo - aka "TIBS".

Why? A few reasons:

• The whisky culture in Japan is just incredible. Not just Japanese whisky either - Japan's love of all whisky, especially Scotch and American, is endless. It shows in their expos (like TIBS and Whisky Live / Modern Malt Market, which we also attended last year), it shows in the special Scotch releases that no other market receives, it shows in their absolutely incredible whisky bar scene, and it shows in their own local whiskies too.
• The cocktail / bar scene is equally as impressive - I'd go so far as to say the best in the world; and
• The annual bottlings released at the show are always high quality, well-priced, varied and fun to bring home.

It helps too that Cathay have flights from Hong Kong that drop you into Tokyo at 6am on Saturday, allowing you to leave 6pm Sunday, all without taking a day off work.

..and so it was decided - I'd follow the same routine as last year and fly into Tokyo Saturday morning, have a quick shower and change at the hotel, then head to the show for a day of whisky....

As is tradition, the show kicked off with an introduction from the invited guests, who assembled on the main stage and included:

• Cocktail legend Gary (Gaz) Regan (of Regan's Bitters)
• Angus Winchester (Global Tanqueray Brand Ambassador)
• Islay native / expert Christine Logan (aka "Lady of the Isles")
• Stewart Buchanan (Global Brand Ambassador for GlenDronach, BenRiach & Glenglassaugh); and
• Local legend Ichiro Akuto (who should need no introduction!)

Following the brief introduction, and noticing the annual bottle queue had already snaked around the venue, I headed over to the Shinanoya stand to see what was on offer, and started my day with a dram of 20yo single cask 1995 GlenDronach from a PX Puncheon, bottled exclusively for Shinanoya. There are worse ways to start the day...

From there it was a short hop over to the always-popular Venture Whisky (aka Ichiro's Malt / Chichibu) stand. Unfortunately the annual Chichibu bottling (a 5 year old single cask ex-American Oak) wasn't available for tasting on the stand, but the core lineup bottles, along with a number of cask samples, were.

One thing I love about Akuto-San (and his wonderful brand ambassador, Yumi-San) is that no matter how popular their small distillery has become, they still go to the trouble of bringing along a few rare / unique / interesting / cask sample bottles (often accompanied by a "Bottle 1 of 2" label). TIBS 2016 was no different, with samples from four casks, all bottled in May 2016:

• French Oak ex-Wine Cask (1st fill), distilled in 2011 and bottled at 61.4% ABV. My favourite, with a deliciously earthy, tannic (but not bitter) palate and a lovely nose of berries.
• American Oak Bourbon Barrel (1st fill), distilled in 2010 and bottled at 60.6% ABV
• Virgin American Oak "Chibidaru" (literally "small") quarter cask, distilled in 2010 and bottled at 61.9% ABV.
• American Oak Bourbon Cask (1st fill), containing peated spirit distilled in 2012, also bottled at 61.9% ABV

All were fantastic, and showed incredible variety considering the new make in 3 of them was identical, and they'd only had between 3 and 6 years' maturation. A true testament to Akuto-san's skill.

With Ardbeg Day / Night just around the corner, Ardbeg were offering attendees cocktails, drams of the core lineup, and the chance to win tickets to the Tokyo event. 

The stand also featured Shortie (Ardbeg's famous Jack Russell mascot), but unlike the toy Shorties of 2013, or the real Shorties of 2014, this was a taxidermied Jack Russell, which was more than a little creepy....

Moving next door and keeping with the Islay theme, it was onto Lagavulin, who were showcasing the new 200th Anniversary 8 year old, available once visitors "Liked" the Lagavulin Facebook page. Having tried it a few weeks earlier, I didn't partake (though it is a good dram - notes up shortly).

The stand also offered visitors the chance to have their photo taken "inside" a 3D glass of whisky, which worked well when the photographer got the angle right... (as not evidenced here):

A few short steps away was the Scotch Malt Whisky Society stand, which had an impressive selection of over 20 bottles. While all required at least a few tokens (sold at ¥1000 for a book of 5, and required to sample the rarer whiskies on offer), the prices were very reasonable and they were offering generous member discounts.

I took the opportunity to try a young Rocktown Bourbon (B3.2 "Ooey-gooey Cinnamon Bun") which friends back in Australia had raved about - and with good cause. It was a brilliant dram, very reminiscent of a big fruity jam donut. Delicious.

As you can probably tell from the photos above and below, I brought my own Glencairn glass to Tokyo. Extreme? Perhaps, but Japanese whisky shows tend to be notorious for not offering proper glassware, as was the case again this year with most drams being poured into tiny little ~30mL plastic cups.

I get the hassle involved with having to provide thousands of glasses (and either collect them at the end, or build them into the price of the ticket), but small plastic cups are not really conducive to properly tasting / assessing quality whisky. It's literally my only complaint about the otherwise brilliant Japanese whisky expo scene, and it's a minor one.

Kavalan had a large range on offer, but the prices to taste most of them were (in my opinion) unreasonable, especially for the recent award-winning Amontillado cask, which ran about $25AUD / $145HKD for a small taste.

As the giants of the Japanese whisky industry, Nikka and Suntory had large stands, but (understandably) with no standout products, and only the basic NAS single malts on offer. As distributors of Edrington and William Grant & Sons products in Japan, Suntory were also offering pours of The Macallan and Glenfiddich, including Macallan Rare Cask and Glenfiddich 21.

Mars were offering their "Wine Cask Finish" Komagatake (which, like the aforementioned Chichibu, balanced the deep berry notes without being overly tannic or bitter), although on later reflection I realised we'd never heard of this particular release, as it's neither the blended "Wine Cask Finish" that was released in 2014, nor the 10yo single malt "Wine Cask Finish" that was released in a short squat bottle. Google was little help, so we're still not sure exactly when this one was released!

Smaller distilleries were well-represented too, including Chicago's Koval (which we first tasted back in 2014) and Finland's Kyrö Distillery Company, who were offering their gin (tasty) and rye (young but showing promise). 

Independent bottlers were also well-represented, and continued to showcase the level of quality we've come to expect from indie bottlings made available to the Japanese market.

GlenDronach, BenRiach & Glenglassaugh were also well-represented, as was their recent new parent company Brown Forman. In addition to the core GlenDronach line-up, a 1995 single cask and the latest cask strength, there was also a bottle of GlenDronach new make - a rare opportunity to taste the raw product that, 18-20 years later, becomes one of my favourite sherried whiskies. With lots of oats and breakfast cereal, it was smooth, flavoursome and very drinkable. I suspect this was a recent batch of new make, and not the pre-2004 spirit from coal-fired stills.

BenRiach's new Cask Strength Batch 1 was also a treat - I'd heard good things before and they were all true. Lots of tropical fruit and gummy bears for me.

After all that whisky, it was time for a cocktail to reset the palate, and who better to share one with than bartending legend Gary (Gaz) Regan? Gary hosted a small masterclass focusing on a few of his creations from years gone by. including one odd creation involving chilli powder (which was interesting, but two sips was enough...)

With the cocktail class over, it was back to the drams, a quick visit to Bacardi's "pop up speakeasy" (a cool idea for a 2 day bar expo, but one we're reliably informed was already done by Hendrick's several years ago), and then time to call it a day and head back to the hotel for a quick freshen up before heading off to my favourite whisky bar in Tokyo - The Mash Tun in Meguro, where I tried this ridiculous 1979 single cask ex-Mizunara Yamazaki, and a 43yo Longmorn (amongst others).

Day 2 saw me arrive early enough to lock in a bottle of the annual Chichibu, as well as a 20 year old Springbank single cask bottled just for the show. There was a ~16yo Karuizawa too, but at ¥145,000, it was a lot more than I was happy to spend (and others too it seems - as there were still some left long after many of the other bottles had sold out).

Whilst not for sale, there was also a hand-filled Bowmore on tasting which was delightful, and a great way to kick start the day. We'll have full tasting notes for Chichibu, Springbank and Bowmore up in a separate post shortly.

My second masterclass of the show was with Christine Logan (aka "Lady of the Isles") - an Islay native, expert, and former Bowmore employee of over 25 years. Christine's class focused on pairing Islay produce with Islay whiskies, and whilst the first two whiskies themselves were pretty standard (Laphy Select and Bowmore Small Batch, from memory), the final was something much more special. One nose and I knew it was something I'd enjoy very, very much...

...and it turns out I was right - it was one of my all time favourite whiskies, the 1989 Bowmore Port Cask! Every single time I've tried this whisky, I've absolutely loved it, and this was no exception.

With my flight back to Hong Kong looming, there was just enough time to drop by the Chichibu / Venture Whisky stand a second time for another dram, grab an obligatory photo with Akuto-San, and then plan my exit.

...but not before I was convinced to make a brief stop at the Hendrick's stand for a de-constructed gin tasting. I've always said gin is the whisky drinker's white spirit, and the chance to do a tasting of all the components that make up one of my favourite gins (including a full-proof example at 70% ABV) was too good to pass up. Big props to Hendrick's for using real glassware at their booth too - both for tasting and cocktails.

So after nearly 36 hours on the ground in Tokyo, that was it - another Tokyo International Bar Show done and dusted. It's hard to say if there was more or less whisky present compared to 2015 (possibly a bit less), but the quality was high, the variety was great, and the people, as always, awesome.

Would I recommend the show? Absolutely. Will I return next year? Probably!

Until next time Japan, Kanpai!

Cheers,
Martin.

TimeforWhisky.com would again like to thank Ueno-San (of the excellent Bar High Five, which we finally visited on this trip) for the press pass and kind hospitality at the show.

Tasted #243: Mars Komagatake "Single Sherry Cask" bottled for Mitsukoshi Isetan (Cask #1436)

Turns out that when I was in Japan recently I'd picked an excellent week to be there. Not just because of Whisky Live / Modern Malt Market, but also because a few limited Japanese whiskies were released that week (and as most of you would know, if you put the words "limited" and "Japanese whisky" together, the result is typically a quick sell-out).

One of those whiskies was a 3 year old single sherry cask Mars Komagatake, bottled at 58% for the large department store Isetan. I spotted this one when wondering around the store's basement level, and noticed it was available for tasting, along with another "Super Heavily Peated" release. Whilst the tastings didn't come as cheap as Liquors Hasegawa, 1000yen (approx $11.50AUD / $65HKD) seemed a very fair price to pay for a (generous) sample of each.

I enjoyed both, but preferred the sherry cask and took home two bottles (one of which was subsequently polished off in one sitting with a few good friends a few weeks ago).

I was lucky I bought them when I did, as the "Super Heavily Peated" sold out while I was there, and I heard the sherry cask sold out just a few hours later.

That's Japanese whisky these days I guess!

Mars Komagatake "Single Sherry Cask" bottled for Mitsukoshi Isetan (58% ABV, Cask #1436, 3yo, one of 297 bottles, Nagano Prefecture, Japan, no longer available)

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Colour: Light straw (it looks darker in the photo).

Nose: Sherried peat, with some bananas. I actually had to check to make sure I hadn't switched the glasses - there was quite a lot of peat on this one (I hadn't - there was even more peat on the "Super Heavily Peated").

Palate: Big zingy peat hit at first. Lots of rich caramels and smoked meats. Mocha notes too.

Finish: Long, ever so slightly hot, and full of smoky barbecued meat. Smoked pork neck at the very end.

Rating (on my very non-scientific scale): 92/100. Clearly young, but very very enjoyable (which might explain how a few of us polished off a bottle in one sitting...)




Cheers,
Martin.

Tokyo International Bar Show + Whisky Expo 2015 review

Moving to Hong Kong has provided us with some great whisky experiences over the past year - meeting David Stewart, sharing a few 'fiddichs with Ian Millar and enjoying a 1969 Glenrothes with Ronnie Cox to name a few.

What living in Hong Kong has also done though, is put us a lot closer to the rest of Asia, and allowed us to visit distilleries in Japan, India, and in the case of this post, spend a crazy 36 hours in Tokyo for the Tokyo International Bar Show + Whisky Expo. 

It all started when a friend suggested the Tokyo International Bar Show ("TIBS" for short) sounded like a fun weekend. While he didn't end up attending, another friend (Eddie Nara of Barrel Concepts) made plans, and I decided to join in. My plan was simple - fly out of HKG at 1am Saturday, land in Tokyo at 6am, get to the hotel, shower, dump the bag, then head to the bar show and catch up with Eddie just in time for opening. Stay all day Saturday, visit a whisky bar Saturday night, do it all again on Sunday, and fly out Sunday night, back home in time for work on Monday. Simple right? Thanks to the general efficiency of Cathay Pacific (and Japan), that's exactly how it went down.

Arriving at TIBS, I was faced with a queue of at least 400 people, snaking around the Tokyo Dome City Prism Hall venue. Luckily I'd arranged a press pass, and managed to walk straight in via the (empty) media entrance. I made a bee line straight for the Shinanoya stand to order a bottle of the (quite limited) TIBS bottlings - a 6yo single cask ex-French Oak Chichibu, and a 4yo single cask ex-American Oak Komagatake.

TIBS always held special appeal for me - mainly because it combines two things I love - whisky and bar culture (and as we've mentioned before, Japanese bar culture is about as good as it gets).  The venue wasn't big, but showcased a significant number of stalls with every spirit you can imagine, and a number of cocktails to sample too. 

The "+ Whisky Expo" part of the name was evident by at least half the venue being filled with whisk(e)y brands - from the big names (Suntory, Nikka, Beam, Bacardi / Dewars etc..) to independent distilleries (Arran, Glenfarclas) to smaller or lesser-known whisky players (Chichibu, Shinshu (Komagatake / Mars), Kirin) and everything in between. It was particularly exciting to see Kirin - who brought their 17 and 18yo single malt, and 25yo single grains along.

Independent bottlers were also present, with the larger-than-life Robin of Blackadder, complete with his 10 gallon hat, proudly proclaiming his complete lack of filtering for the excellent "Raw Cask" series).

A masterclass theatre provided a variety of masterclasses throughout the day (I attended a rum class with Ian Burrell the "Global Rum Ambassador" on one day, and a Hibiki component class with Suntory's Master Blender Shinji Fukuyo on the other).

A live stage added another dimension, showing various demonstrations and cocktail competitions, including demonstrations from headliner Julio Bermejo of Tommy's Mexican Restaurant (home of the world famous Tommy's Margarita). Enjoying one of these made fresh by Julio and handed directly from the stage was a pretty special experience, and provided a nice break to reset the palate after tasting 20+ whiskies!

The Chichibu booth was crowded for most of both days, and it wasn't hard to see why - with a full line-up, including a few pre-release bottles that read "Bottle 1 of 2"! Akuto-san was also around to greet fans and pose for photos / sign bottles. A top bloke and very humble!

Food within the venue was limited, but with okonomiyaki, tempura, takoyaki and sushi, covered most of my favourites. When a break from the spirits was needed, there were a few options including Nikka (with their Highball machine, showcasing the new Nikka Black), and Brewdog, the Scottish craft brewery famous for making some insanely high-ABV% beers.

The rest of the story is probably best told in pictures - enjoy!

I'm really glad I went to TIBS, and would encourage anyone who likes whisky, cocktails or bar culture to try to visit at least once in their life! A huge thanks to Tokyo International Bar Show and Hidetsugu Ueno (of Bar High Five and the Cocktail Culture Foundation) for the press pass.

Tasting notes to follow in a further blog post.

Cheers,
Martin