Yamazakura Whisky Shelf Review
Shelf Review
Designed to give you all the quick hit information you need when you’re standing in front of your local liquor store’s whisky shelf.
While overall interest in whisky has skyrocketed over the last decade, two types have benefitted disproportionately – Bourbon and Japanese whiskey. Japanese in particular is incredibly hard to find, with most Japanese whiskies never making it out of Japan. Traditionally there were two great houses of Japanese whisky: Suntory and Nikka. But as demand has far outstripped the capacities of these two major brands, others have stepped in to try and capitalize.
One of these companies is Sasanokawa Shuzo which is responsible for the Yamazakura line of whiskies. It’s important to know that having “Japanese whisky” on the label does not guarantee that it was distilled or aged in Japan. Instead, many of these upstart Japanese brands source their distillate from Scotland or Ireland then blend and package the product as “Japanese” whisky. This practice has made it incredibly difficult to maintain product integrity within the Japanese whisky category. I suspect that’s what has happened with this whisky.
Age: NAS
ABV: 40%
Cask: Not Stated
MSRP: Under $40 at Costco
Distillery Name: Sasanokawa Shuzo
Review Date: 11/29/20
Color: Light Straw
Nose: Sickly sweet. Tahitian vanilla dumped over vanilla ice cream. Perfume, floral, with lemon and citrus notes. Overpowering sweetness and perfume and not much else.
Palate: Aggressive sweetness. Almost corn syrup in quality. Feels like an artificial vanilla that you would use to flavor cotton candy. After the sweetness subsides, there are very light traces of fresh cut flowers, herbs like clove and cinnamon, and lemon. Not much depth or discernable flavors here, and instead feels like a very young grain whiskey that has had sugar added.
Finish: Short and sickly sweet – just like the palate.
