While there are easily dozens of peated, non-Islay Scotch whiskies to choose from to do a series on peated whisky not made in Islay, I’m stepping away from Scotland altogether this week and head straight for that other country where they make Scotch whisky in all but name: Japan.
Of course, this is cutting a few corners and generalizing to the point of stating the obvious cliché, in fact, it is very likely doing a whole new wave of Japanese distilleries short as they are definitely doing their own thing their own way. However, I feel for today’s distillery there is some truth to the statement. The reason being obviously that Nikka, the company of which Yoichi distillery is a part of, was founded and build by Masataka Takesturu, who, coming from a family of sake producers, learned the craft of whisky making in Scotland right after the end of World War I. Upon returning to Japan, he helped establish what was to become Suntory whisky before starting his own distillery in Yoichi on the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido in 1934, which, according to Taketsuru, best resembles the climate of Scotland. Who am I to argue?
All things considered, I am still very much a Japanese whisky novice. When it was still fairly easily available and affordable I was too busy obsessing over Laphroaig and Ardbeg, and when I finally understood that there was more to whisky than just liquid smoke and pcp, the Japanese ship had long left the harbour: whiskies like the Yamazaki 12 or the Japanese Harmony were easily cruising towards and over €100 a bottle, which left me pretty happy dipping my toe (or rather going full pool bomb) into all things Scotch. So over the years I probably have had a dozen or so Japanese whiskies, making me anything but an expert. Luckily, there are quite a few knowledgeable folk who were paying attention when it mattered most, so if you want to get your Japanese whisky geek on, I’ll happily recommend you paying a visit to Greg’s whisky guide or Mac from Kanpai Planet, who truly know their stuff.
In any case Yoichi makes for a very interesting whisky in this little series I think, as it was initially build and created to ‘mimic’ the Scotch style of the early 20th century. Obviously today’s expressions will be different to those from a century ago, but that’s true for all and every whisky, most of all Scotch. So, on to the whisky.
On the nose, it starts off with citrus notes, going into a lemon meringue even. A gentle, almost subdued fruity sweetness like white melon and a floral freshness, teaming up with a sea breeze salinity leading into soft peat and a cereal note. Quite young (7 or 8 years maybe, with possibly quite a bit of 1st and refill bourbon casks in the batch), subtle – almost delicate even, yet well balanced and rounded. Add a drop of water (go gently) and the lemon/citrus and peat notes become more prominent, but never fully take over.
On the palate the soft peat is more upfront, accompanied by a slightly peppery and gingery touch. Again grainy with that cereal note and a sweet and sour citrus freshness to it. There’s something herbaceous and bitter to it, but very, very soft, reminding me of parsley. It has a fairly light, drying mouthfeel Here a drop of water makes a bigger impact as it becomes more lively, with linseed oil joining in with that citrus and peat. Out of the blue a mushroom – like savoury note appears and the drying mouthfeel develops a bit more body and turns ever so slightly oily.
The finish is short to medium and dry, with a very soft peat turning spicy (soft pepper and nutmeg).
While very well crafted, with a very nice balance and ‘roundness’ to it, I doubt if this were to rock your world or blow your socks off. It’s a good whisky, but with all the hype and buzz surrounding Japanese whisky, this now sits somewhere between £55/€60 and £70/€80 in most (European) markets, which is probably at least a tenner too expensive in my book. Seeing as there is at this moment virtually no Yoichi carrying an age statement (as is the case with a lot of other Japanese whisky fort hat matter) what we’ve got here is essentially their entry level expression. And while in terms of quality it’s definitely punching above its weight in that segment, it’s also suffering a bit from an artificially inflated market. Still: pretty good stuff. 82/100
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