Nose: Quite lovely. Bright citrus notes, pineapple and grilled lemons. A Petit-suisse with a big spoonful of loquat marmalade. Grilled leeks and a strong garden vibe, almost ferns. Sojourn is obsessed with all things Jurassic and is now on the hunt for the world’s oldest plant. Time to take him to the botanical garden again. Under the sweet smoke, salt crinkles my nose, nearly iodine.
Palate: True to the nose. The taste in my mouth when I’m spinning clay pottery. Yuzu gummy candies. Grapefruit peel and a lick of ginger. A mild green tea with a tiny dollop of lemon and honey. The smoke layers gracefully. This would make a hell of a tea.
Rating: 7 / 10 – I am no yamazaki fan boy. I’ve had a number of the older expressions when I used to travel to Japan for work and they were lovely but I would gladly have picked an older hibiki or springbank or bourbon for the money. So, when I say this nose is off the charts, I am certainly not swayed by any mystique. Lovely.
