Mars Tsunuki Peated [Tasted #559]

Rounding out our look at just what Japanese whisky is these days, we come to the final whisky (for now) - Mars Tsunuki Peated. Mars is by no means a new entry into the world of Japanese whisky, but Tsunuki is,  having only started distilling in 2016.

Located in Kagoshima (on the site of a previous ageing warehouse), Tsunuki distillery was designed to provide some variety in the Mars whisky portfolio - a fact we first learned from the president of Mars (Kazuto Hombo) himself when he visited HK a few years ago.

So, we're talking about a ~3yo whisky (distilled 2016-2017, bottled 2020), said to be peated to between 20-50ppm. I enjoyed the first Tsunuki ("The First"), so was keen to see how it takes to a bit of peat...let's go:

Mars Tsunuki Peated Single Malt Japanese Whisky (52% ABV, 3yo, Kagoshima, Japan, $2,200HKD)
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Colour: Bright yellow gold.

Nose: Initial campfire smoke, then waves of yellow and green fruit (peach, pear, green apples, rockmelon). Not tropical, but a distinct fruitiness - something I've found on a lot of these younger Mars releases, from both Shinshu and Tsunuki distilleries.

Palate: Less obviously peated, though there is some background smoke. Melon, peach, earthy subtly-smoked honey, and then (interestingly) some BBQ-smoked salmon!

Finish: Long, with notes of oak, slight smoke and a slight tannic note towards the end.

Rating (on my very non-scientific scale): 90/100. Not overly complex, but tasty and very drinkable.

Thanks again to AF Trade for the review bottles / samples, and for bringing all these proper Japanese whiskies into HK!

Cheers,

Martin.

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.

What is "Japanese Whisky" these days?

If you go back 10 or so years, the term "Japanese whisky" generally meant (to most whisky drinkers) Yamazaki or Hibiki. Maybe for some well-versed drinkers, Miyagikyo, Mars Komagatake or Yoichi. Hardcore enthusiasts were probably aware of whiskies like Hanyu and Karuizawa, but they certainly weren't known outside of a core group of enthusiasts.

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Back then, these whiskies were all relatively accessible and comparatively well-priced (yes even the Karuizawas). More or less every Dan Murphy's stocked Yamazaki 12 (at well under $100AUD/bottle), and almost every decent Japanese bottle shop (and even Japan's airports) stocked age-statement Suntory and Nikka whiskies at incredibly fair prices. You could walk into most (good) Japanese whisky bars and try a selection of Ichiro's Malt Cards Series for less than you'd pay for a dram of Lagavulin 16 today.

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Then in 2015 a man in a hat said the Yamazaki Sherry Cask 2013 was the best whisky in the world, and everyone lost their mind. Now sure, this was far from the first award ever given to a Japanese whisky (Hibiki 21 for example had won "World's Best Blended Whisky", at the arguably much-more-relevant World Whiskies Awards, several times before 2015), but it did seem to be the catalyst for a barrage of hype, price hikes and scarce availability that continues today.

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Some might say the hatted man simply shone a brighter light on what was already an incredibly high quality spirit (and they'd be right), but however you look at it, the hype started building, and casualties followed. In the coming years, Nikka discontinued their beloved age statement single malts (and later, many of their much-loved blends), Suntory temporarily halted favourites like Hibiki 17 and Hakushu 12, and the prices of pretty much all remaining Suntory and Nikka age statement (and NAS for that matter) whiskies skyrocketed. 

...and that's not even mentioning whisky from closed Japanese distilleries (to see how things are going there, just check out these auction prices of a "full deck" of Ichiro's Malt Cards Series from 2015, 2019 and 2020 respectively).

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After a few years came the the wave of what many have termed "fake Japanese Whiskies" - those which took advantage of loose legislation in Japan which meant that producers could (and still can, for now) bottle whisky made from 100% imported spirit such as Scotch or Canadian whisky, and sell it as "Japanese Whisky" domestically and around the world. 

Again, the use of non-Japanese distilled spirit isn't a new thing. Nikka for example had been thought to be using Ben Nevis (which they own) in their hugely popular "Nikka from the Barrel", for years, but the rise in Japanese whisky popularity in the past 5 years has seen a big increase in other overpriced, opaque/ambiguous bottlings calling themselves "Japanese", often with samurai or other imagery, with absolutely no guarantee as to where the spirit originated. 

(For the record, I have no problem with the practice of imported spirit being bottled and sold by Japanese companies, and companies like Nikka who are willingly being transparent about the issue should be applauded. My issue is with those being deliberately deceptive, trying to "fool" their customers into thinking the whisky was distilled in Japan when it wasn't.)

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More recently though, we've seen a ray of hope emerge - "proper" Japanese whisky from new or newly-expanded distilleries/brands, producing unique, Japanese-distilled spirit, and in the last few years (and especially the last 12 months), we've seen the first whisky releases from many of these start to emerge.

With thanks to our friends at AFTrade Hong Kong, we're going to feature a few of these whiskies over the coming week, with detailed tasting notes and some background into each distillery. Specifically, we'll be trying:

• Kanosuke Single Malt 2021 First Edition (link to tasting post)
• Sakurao Single Malt 1st Release (link to tasting post)
• Mars Tsuniki Peated (link to tasting post)
• Akkeshi Single Malt: "Boshu", "Kanro" and "Usui" (link to tasting post); and
• Mars Komagatake x Chichibu "Malt Duo" (not as new as some of the others, but a fascinating blended malt considering the practice of sharing barrels and blending malts is far from common in Japan) (link to tasting post)

(Links to the articles will be added as they're posted)

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We hope these posts give you some insight into these new, exciting Japanese distilleries and a little taste of things to come from Japanese whisky in the future. If you have any thoughts of your own on these whiskies (or the Japanese whisky scene in general) please leave them in the comments below!

Kanpai,

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.

Mars tasting at Whisky and Words with Kazuto Hombo (Tasted #422 - 428)

The popularity of Japanese whisky continues to grow in Hong Kong, and at a recent tasting (at the newly-opened Whisky & Words in Sheung Wan) it was evident that that popularity isn't limited to rare, old and aged Japanese whisky (although Karuizawa prices continue to baffle at auction...)

The whiskies in question were those of Mars, under parent company Hombo Shuzo. This was no ordinary tasting though, with Hombo-san (Kazuto Hombo), the President of Mars himself in attendance along with Kusan-san (Tatsuro Kusan), master distiller.

Hosted by good friend of TimeforWhisky.com Eddie Nara, the tasting involved 7 spirits, including some not even yet released in Japan.

Eddie and Hombo-san talked us through a brief history of Mars whisky - from their 1872 inception as a Shochu producer, to their 1949 licence to distill whisky and 1960s experiments in whisky (which were not popular), to their later periods of whisky production (1978-1992 and 2011-current). 

We learned that 1985 saw the opening of the Shinshu distillery in Nagano, and much more recently in 2016, the Tsunuki distillery in Kagoshima (on the site of a previous ageing warehouse) to provide some variety in the portfolio. With 2 distilleries, 3 warehouse locations and 5 different kinds of new make spirit (0ppm up to 50ppm), the Mars whisky portfolio is a diverse one it seems!

First up was the latest "Lucky Cat" release - "May", the 4th in the series, finished for 18 months in ex-umeshu casks. As a big fan of the first Lucky Cat (which I was lucky enough to buy on release for under $300HKD/$50AUD!) I was looking forward to the latest one, named after a cat found and owned by Hombo-san's daughter, who also happened to be in attendance on the night.

Mars Lucky Cat "May" (40% ABV, NAS, Blended whisky, bottled in Japan)

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Colour: Orange gold
Nose: Green apples, apricots, plum wine. Very unique.

Palate: Light, sweet, fruity. Some acetone, grapes and plum.

Finish: Short, light, with lingering grape notes.

Rating (on my very non-scientific scale):  85/100. A simple yet enjoyable whisky.

Next was the latest Komagatake Limited Edition (2018), aged in ex-Bourbon / American White Oak barrels and bottled at 48%.

Mars  Komagatake Limited Edition 2018 (48% ABV, NAS, Single Malt, Japan)

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Colour: Yellow gold.
Nose: Banana, hay, and sweet jelly chews (red frogs).

Palate: Sweet toffee apple and banana flan. Some pear emerges after some time.

Finish: More toffee apple, with some oak and coffee ground bitterness towards the end (though not overpowering).

Rating (on my very non-scientific scale):  88/100. Also simple, though enjoyable - especially for those who like their whiskies on the sweeter, ex-bourbon side.

Next it was over to Tsunuki, where this single cask Komagatake was aged (hence the "Tsunuki Aging" moniker). Bottled for the Tsunuki festival to be held the following weekend, the whisky was aged in ex-umeshu casks like the Lucky Cat, but this time for the full maturation - 3 years and 7 months.

Mars  Single Cask Komagatake "Tsunuki Aging" Hojo Selection 2018 (44% ABV, 3yo, Japan)
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Colour: Orange gold.
Nose: Apple juice, cider, almond chews.

Palate: Red apples, sweet candy apples, jelly chews (but this time, green frogs).

Finish: Oak tannins and toffee apple.

Rating (on my very non-scientific scale):  90/100.

Sticking with Tsunuki, we next tried two "new makes" (aged 664 and 408 days), followed by one actual new make.

Mars Tsunuki "New Make" 664 days (59% ABV, 664 days old, Japan)

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We were amongst the first people in the world to try this, apparently! 
Colour: Light gold.
Nose: Light and floral. Some grape hubba bubba.

Palate: Rich and oily with sweet grape notes.

Finish: Medium length, malty, oaky, with a lingering earthy smoke.

Rating (on my very non-scientific scale):  83/100. Simple but showing promise.


Mars Tsunuki "New Make" 408 days (59% ABV, 408 days old, Japan)

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Colour: Light yellow gold.
Nose: Sweet smoke - quite meaty, with a subtle sweet pulled port undertone.

Palate: The smoke is less noticable on the palate, and there's some white chocolate and sweet sugared almonds.

Finish: The smoke returns and there's a lingering sweetness to the end.

Rating (on my very non-scientific scale):  87/100. A lovely sweet meatiness to this spirit - I'd love to see how it goes after a decade or two in a good cask!

Mars "New Pot Heavily Peated" New make Spirit from May 2017 (60% ABV, NMS, Japan)

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Colour: Clear (duh)
Nose: Earthy bananas.

Palate: BBQ ash, burnt beef brisket pieces, and then, somewhat interestingly, a lemon-lime sweetness emerges!

Finish: Back to the smoke - long ashy BBQ smoke.

Rating (on my very non-scientific scale):  85/100. Undoubtedly simple, but actually quite enjoyable! I wasn't the only attendee who said they preferred this to the 664 days!

Last but not least came the "Marsmalt Le Papillon" 5th edition, bottled at just over 4 years @ 60% ABV, from a single American White Oak cask (distilled at the Shinshu distillery).

Marsmalt "Le Papillon" 5th Edition Single Cask (60% ABV, 4yo, Bottle no 553/560, Japan)

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Colour: Vibrant orange gold.
Nose: Candied orange peel. Sweet and citrus.

Palate: Bitter orange at first, then lemon, then grilled BBQ fish and a salty bitterness at the end.

Finish: Medium in length, with slight citrus (lemon) bitter tannins.

Rating (on my very non-scientific scale):  87/100. 

Tasting a range like this is always fun, especially when it involves such variety of distilleries, spirits and ageing regimes under the one banner (in this case, "Mars"). A big thanks to Hombo-san and Kusan-san for giving up their time, Eddie Nara for his expert hosting duties, and Whisky & Words for the venue!

Cheers,
Martin.

TimeforWhisky.com was grateful to attend this tasting as a guest of Whisky & Words.

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.