single cask battle: Miyagikyo vs Chichibu vs Hakushu

For full disclosure, I personally enjoy Hakushu over Yamazaki and Miyagikyo over Yoichi, and both over Chichibu 😇

The TLDR: Hakushu (88.3 points) and Miyagikyo (89 point) both had great tropical notes which I loved, but the Miyagikyo had a more complex nose which gave it the edge! The Chichibu (85 points) was good.

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[Bottle Review] Hakushu 2F41566 1992/2008 (61%)

Distillery: Hakushu

Vintage: 1992

Bottling Date: 2008

Cask Type: Hogshead, cask 2F41566

ABV: 61%

# bottles: 185

Bottled for: Japan, The Owner's Cask (owner not stated)

Auction price at time of writing: No data

Original Retail Price: ~$60-100 (best guess)

Nose

Smoky mist with green apple intertwined, creamy, vanilla, ripe cantaloupe, very light tropical notes (mostly tinned pineapple), slight glue varnish if you inhale too deep, followed by mint and chalk board dust. That last part transported me way back to grade school and clapping erasers, if anyone here is old enough to remember chalkboards 😅

-88-

Palate

Very ripe in general, ripe fruit (jackfruit?) and banana, then intense white pepper and ginger. Creamy then red berry notes on top of the cream (strawberry cream?) then definitely green apples again. Green apples are a note I get in the standard Hakushu 12 release, but this is much more intense. Also more tropical notes hovering around guavas.

-88-

Finish

Now there is clear tinned pineapple, bitter oak, banana hi-chew, vanilla, then ginger spice. Loooong spicy finish with hints of young mango and some dryness

-89-

Overall, a good mix of spice and fruits, but the spice is a little too prickly and its not the most complex Hakushu I've tried.

Final Score = 88.3

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[Bottle Review] Miyagikyo 10 Year Cask 115345

Distillery: Miyagikyo

Vintage: 2006.04.08

Bottling Date: 2016.11.07

Cask Type: Not stated, cask 115345

ABV: 55%

# bottles: Not stated

Bottled for: Japanese release

Auction price at time of writing: No data

Original Retail Price: ~$150-250 (best guess)

Nose

Wow more tropical than the hakushu, but also very similar. Mango and pineapple (both!), mint, green apple, maybe some red apples too, then I changed my mind and it's in green jolly rancher territory. Vegetal notes creeping up and then a hint of ginger. I would say a little less deep and mysterious than the hakushu and more fruity, but no glue so that's a plus. Very creamy too. Getting very very close to that Irish Tropical Thunder I so adore ❤️

-92-

Palate

Creamy, lots of banana and spice, white pepper, honey with honeycomb (this makes sense right? the sweet honey inside fresh waxy honeycomb), bitter tannic notes from the oak, guava and pineapple. A little overpowering on the peppery side!

-88-

Finish

Green banana, vanilla, cream, lingering spice, much shorter than the hakushu. Honey again, then very clear kiwi notes along with other tropical fruits ala pineapple. Semi drying and some green tea bitterness on the finish.

-87-

The nose was fantastic and I was expecting a huge tropical bomb but similar to the Hakushu it was leaning more to the pepper/spicy side. Also, green banana is a little astringent to me and stopped it from going into the 90 category. Still very good 👌

Final Score = 89.0

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[Bottle Review] Chichibu 2010 Travel Retail Cask 2650

Distillery: Chichibu

Vintage: 2010

Bottling Date: 2016

Cask Type: First Cask: American White Oak, Second Cask: Sherry Hogshead. Cask 2650

ABV: 59.3%

# bottles: 293

Bottled for: Japan Duty Free

Auction price at time of writing: $1335 oct 2019

Original Retail Price: ~$230

Nose

Really sweet, notably with raisins (almost fermented) and rum, but also a grassy nose. Some honey and then just an overpowering ethanol attack. Malted barley and some beer funk. Main takeaway - lots of fermented notes intertwined with sweetness

-84-

Palate

Almost as sweet as the initial nosing - rum nougat, with some chocolate and caramel notes. Then a good spice from the oak showing up I don't get a huge sherry influence at all, consider some point of this was matured in a Sherry Hogshead. And then it strikes! That weird synthetic bubblegum note that I don't like, and that pops up in a lot of sherry cask and port pipe Chichibu I've tried. Not a big fan of that, but others love it... extremely hot going into the finish. Cant get that note out of my head, but its still good 😅

-83-

Finish

Strong tannic spice and pleasant caramel notes. Again, that rum raisin that takes me into a prominent coconut taste with the last linger of flavor. My favorite part of the dram

-86-

I normally just try neat, but added some water into this one. With water the nose is more honey, the palette is much smoother and less of that weird bubblegum flavor with more subtle sherry notes. The finish is still spicy. So +1 for water

Final Score = 85

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Would I drop the money for their current auction prices? Definitely not for the Chichibu. The Miyagikyo could probably pry $500 out of my hands 😅