Front label was removed for personal reasons. This is a "malt" if I read the back label correctly.. The Fuji-Gotemba distillery is owned by the Kirin group, the same group that shutdown Karuizawa to focus on wines... then they "re-opened" a distillery (which started in 1972) to capture the past glory of Kawasaki (and Karuizawa) and chose Gotemba in Shizuoka... at least that is the implied story. The distillery produces both single malts and blends, but appears to be more known for it's grain expressions, perhaps due to the implied link to Kawasaki. They frequently use American oak barrels, mostly from Four Roses, also owned by Kirin Group.

Nose: pickled vegetables but not tsukemono types, soured vinegar, boiled peanuts on the tail ends, soy sauce.

Palate: medium bodied, initial palate is syrup, mid palate is calm, syrup sweetness, smoke residue, bitter vegetables, light flavors overall, back palate is where most flavors are, has a hint of wasabi/horse radish/mustard, honey residue, sweeter side of spices, sweet plastic.

Finish: wasabi/horse radish/mustard, medium.

Wow, not going to lie, this was much better than expected. Not overwhelming and hits some key spots. I don't think it focuses on a particular flavor or flavor profile, but does its own thing well, especially on the back palate, just not very strong in flavors though. Gonna be conservative though.

Image courtesy of Eric Yee.

Eric Yee

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