Isawa 10 year old: 'Tasting is believing!'

I won a pack of Japanese whiskies the other month and included was a 5cl of this Isawa, a ten year old Japanese Malt. I'd never heard of it before and google didn't turn up much either. As far as I can tell Monde Shuzo, the distiller, is primarily a wine maker who dabbled in whisky for a while. Only their blended malt is available in the UK, with the 10 year old available on Whiskybase for about £35 for 50cl.

Have I stumbled across a hidden gem of a Japanese whisky? Alas no..

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Nose:- Right from the beginning this is unlike anything I can remember tasting.

Intense sawdust notes compete for your attention with something that smells an awful lot like paint remover.

Slightly acrid and strawy this smells a bit like a rabbit hutch. A rabbit hutch that hasn't been cleaned for a long time. Some ammonia.. bleugh.

Lurking behind this is some vanilla, grain, some leather and quite an amount of star anise.

Taste:- It really follows on form the unusual nose with the grassy, sawdusty character asserting itself , but with blast of sweetness and a hint of woody smoke.

Finish:- It doesn't remain sweet for long. It fades swiftly and says farewell by leaving an overwhelming  imprint of sour star anise.
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I must admit this is the first dram in a long, long time that I haven't managed to finish. Rabbit hutch, paint stripper.. no thank you.

This seems to be a relatively rare whisky, the distillery appears to be finished and at 10 years of age it's not like they didn't try.. but this is pretty vile stuff. I'll take soem NAS Balcones any day thanks.

I've about 30ml of this left.. if anyone wants it when I'm back in Britain they're more than welcome.

Laphroaig 10 year old...or maybe not the best place to start.

Image courtesy of [puamelia]

Last Christmas my girlfriend's mother was kind enough to give us a bottle of Laphroaig 10 year old after our trip to the Scotch Whisky Experience in Edinburgh Not that it turned out to be much of an experience as we were running out of time and had to get moving! (Nice shop though.)

Now I've a bit of an admission to make.. I started by putting this wonderful single malt scotch whisky in hot chocolate with marshmallows.. 

As someone to whom spirits meant 'Glens' Vodka (a particularly vile brand of Scottish Vodka) I was not at all accustomed to drinking anything anywhere near 40% alcohol.

So without further wait here are my initial tasting notes:

No nose/palate/finish or sip/smell/swallow.

Phwoarr... Christ. What do I do with this stuff?!

You might laugh or be mortally offended at the idea of using good whisky in hot chocolate, but that's beside the point. Half a bottle later I was tentatively taking my first sips of the Laphroaig straight, ok with a wee dash of water. I don't feel like I wasted half the bottle, if I hadn't of used it that way it would have just have got given away!

Alas my initial bottle is long gone and I've not managed to buy another.

Still from a recent trip for a bar I managed to put together some slightly more errm.. useful tasting notes!

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Smell - Smoulding wood and peat fire with a wee hint of salt

Taste - Sweet oaky smoky! 

Finish - Spicy, sweet and ashy. 

It might sound odd, but it's a real experience. Most people love it or hate it and even then most hate it.. Still if you find you enjoy these flavours you'll really be hooked!

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Other people talk of TCP and medicinal smells, but I'm too young to know TCP.. so any negative connotations escape me and I can just enjoy the great whisky :)