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Whisky Reviews

Hanyu 20 Year Old, b.2004, Ichiro's Malt, Sherry Wood, 46% abv.

 

 

Don't see many of these around, well... at least I don't. These 720 ml squattish bottles seem to be hard to find. Apparently 139 bottles, but I'm not sure. Had this at the beginning of 2019.

Nose: red fruits, stone fruits, soured fruit sauce, very very sweet fish sauce, a sort of fermented soy sauce... essentially salty and sweet.

Palate: full bodied, initial palate has fruits.  Mid palate has the spice develop along with the ginger and fruits, stone fruits, clams, grinded shellfish guts in a sauce, South Korean small conches, seafood salty, calms down very quickly for an old Japanese malt. Back palate is metallic stone fruits, copper rust, a little metallic, strong sherry shows up at the end.

Finish: medium, slight red fruit juice, a little metallic, earthy, oily, spice seems to distract from the flavors.

A pretty good Hanyu, tasty and balanced for what it offers. Not too strong, but definitely feels like it's stronger than 55% abv. The body was essentially salty fruit, with the salt elements reminding me of certain shellfish and the fruits being stone fruit dominant.

 

Image courtesy of Eric Yee.

  

Eric Yee

🇭🇰 🇺🇸(LA, SF) -> 🇯🇵 (京都, 東京) -> 🇰🇷 (서울, 부산)