Time for another whisky from the Suntory distillery in Japan. This time it’s the Yamazaki Puncheon, so called because this whisky is aged in a 480-litre puncheon cask made from American white oak – the idea being that the larger casks allows the whisky to mature more slowly than their usual 230-litre hogshead cask.
Colour: straw, and much paler than the photograph suggests. On the nose: a very clean sherry note at first, then something more akin to red wine. Big juicy grapes. A gentle sweetness to follow. Blood orange.
In the mouth: lots of subtle, complex flavours. Mimics the nose somewhat. Grapes again, vanilla notes, pepper – very well balanced. Not much weight in the mouth, and very clean, which together makes for a rather short, citrusy finish. It’s a good dram, but not a great one. There’s nothing here that leaps out as different.
At sixty-odd quid a bottle, this strikes me as one for Yamazaki collectors only.
