Came as a pair (Springbank 26yo, d.1992, Aquavitae, Hogshead no. 282, 198 bottles, 51.0% abv). Aquavitae is a bottler from Taiwan that seems to frequently partner with Shinanoya on their releases, which I see from time to time in Japan.

Nose: vanilla, a sort of sugary semi-fruity aroma set, difficult to describe, a little complex in my opinion.

Palate: light to medium body, initial palate is mostly dessert sugars, mid palate shows some sort of honey, vanilla, and a weird wet old steamed lotus leaves, more dessert sugars, back palate extends the same.

Finish: medium to long, leftover vanilla, graham, quite sugary dessert.

A little unexpected for such an SB, full of sweets usually associated with desserts, buttery, although it sticks to one flavor profile, it does it extremely well. A lot was going on with the nose, but it seemed to have consolidated into a dessert mess. Looking back, these notes seem useless... sigh.

Image courtesy of Eric Yee.

Eric Yee

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