Yamazaki 18 Year Old

As a big fan of Japanese whisky, I thought it was about time I reviewed another. This time it’s the Yamazaki 18 Year Old. (I tried the 12 Year Old several months ago.)

Colour: deep heather honey, hint of red in there. Nose: floral, coastal tang, oak, good barley notes, dried fruits. This is what good single malt whisky smells like.

In the mouth: first impressions are of gentle spices, pepper, cinnamon, briny. Very neat and tidy – not too heavy, not light and dry, just very well balanced. Heading down Glenfarclas territory with a hint of those dried fruits, but never really delivering. From the nose I expected something sweeter, but that doesn’t seem to fire through with this one. The malt comes through prominently on a rather lingering finish.

It’s a very solid whisky. Nothing to set the world on fire from this sample, since it doesn’t really have that defining character to set it apart. It’s still rather lovely though, and another great example of Japanese in producing a wonderfully balanced dram.

Again this is a pricey one – again hence ordering a sample rather than a bottle – but I think you could spent that money on better whiskies. You could try a Glenfarclas at less than half the price, for a start.