Idea of Japanese malts tasting arrived quite long ago, finally we managed to gather what we think is good selection, so let's travel to the most northern Japanese island of Hokkaido.
The whole line-up as follows (looks nice, isn't it?):
Yoichi 10 yo 45% - dearly departed from standard Yoichi assortment.
Nose: subtle and constantly changing, touch of sea, a bit of apples and berries, some spices, roasted nuts, hint of oak. You really need to sniff it out of the glass.
Taste: quite dense, sweet and sour with touch of smoke.
Finish: medium-long, powerful and salty with notes of coffee, peat and oak.
Overall: dangerously drinkable and very well balanced 10 yo malt.
Score = 21 21 21.5 21.5, 85/100!
Yoichi 12 yo 45% - dearly departed from standard Yoichi assortment.
Nose: a bit more powerful than in 10 yo, more cream here and some perfumes.
Taste: quite edgy and awkward, combo of sweetness and smokiness, but it doesn't combine with the nose.
Finish: long enough, spices, wood, smoke and plums.
Overall: I'd say 10 yo is more refined, the taste and balance in 12 yo left some embarrassment.
Score = 21.5 20 21.5 21, 84/100!
Yoichi 15 yo 45% - dearly departed from standard Yoichi assortment.
Nose: fresh and elegant, apples, currants, red berries (dogrose), salt, rasins, hint of peat.
Taste: delicious, honey and nuts, spices and wood, chocolate and cream.
Finish: long one developing on salt, sour red berries, nuts, oak and spices.
Overall: perfect balance and development, the only fault feature is quick fading of the nose, after 30 min it melts away significantly. Though when it's just poured it gives you real pleasure. If it lasted longer the score would have been 89/100 at least.
Score = 21.5 22.5 22 22, 88/100!
Yoichi 20 yo 52% - dearly departed from standard Yoichi assortment and already hitting EUR 600-700 on auctions.
Nose: wow, another league here, powerful sherry, coffee, red berries, old leather, bog oak, humidor box, hint of earth and smoke. Overwhelming power and complexity.
Taste: covers your tongue and slowly melts, red berries again, leather, salt, peat smoke, tobacco, chocolate.
Finish: long one, strong tea, touch of smoke again, polished silky oak. Maybe not so complex as nose and taste.
Overall: just delicious, powerful sherry side is balanced with oak, peat and tobacco notes, so don't get over-sherried monster.
Score = 23 23 22 23, 91/100!
Yoichi 1991/2011 single cask #129651 63% - not standard assortment of course, if you find it below EUR 1000 - you're lucky one.
Nose: a bit reserved at the beginning (just check its strength), though potential is great. Lots of sherry, bacon and ham, roasted nuts and chocolate, fruit jam.
Taste: knocks you out at 63% strength, extremely dense but not harsh, just bites into your tongue leaving tobacco, sweet orange, coffee, salt and peat.
Finish: ve-e-ery long, tobacco, herbs, nuts and touch of peppermint stay with you for ages...
Overall: I'd call it a gem. If compared with 20 yo I'd say that single cask nose is notch weaker (20 yo gives it all from the very beginning, here you need time and patience), though taste and finish are immense.
Score = 22.5 23.5 23 23, 92/100!
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