The Southside Whisky Club  


Yamazaki 18yo | 43.0% | Japan
71
66
37
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Meet Deets
Meet #37   |   13/04/13   |   Hosted by Phil
It was time for a Japanese whisky night, with 6 bottles to get through (one we'd tasted before).. we got our heads down and achieved our goals, sampling some interesting delights from far afield.
Other bottles sampled:
#67 Yoichi 10yo | SSWC review 37a
#68 Nikka Coffey Grain | SSWC review 37b
#69 Karuizawa Asama | SSWC review 37c
#70 Hakushu 12yo | SSWC review 37d

Japanese Whisky Club   Bottles #33a - #33e were all tasted as part of a Japanese whisky night, where we tasted 6 bottles (one was a control, the previously-tried Nikka 'From The Barrel'). The image to the right shows the distilleries we tasted bottles from, as well as when they came into existence and who owns them (with 'S' denoting a now-silent still).

Smells
Fucking tasty! This is one fruity mother on the nose. Not a single mother either, this mum's got many kids! Cherries are screaming for attention, morello maybe, glacé potentially, cliched? Probably... Apricots are squabbling with the ripe bananas while the fruit salad looks on in horror at the remains of the raspberry dripping off the blades of a blender. You can almost literally smell the unmistakable smell of the brains of one of the caifornian raisins from the adverts being killed on a battlefield, you know? But that's not all, a burnt sugar theme tempers the fruit, muscovado maybe with a sophistication of licorice? This smell is a mustardy, musty, long neglected yet populated attic belonging to a girl we reckon (you can detect the smell of perfume from an old box of clothes.
Tastes
Pudding, that's all we can say. On the taste images flash by, a bakewell tart, sticky toffee pudding, syrup sponge pudding, smothered in crème patissière and treacle! Shameless shameless treacle treacle copy copy coffee (with a werther's original balanced on the side)! Salty, that's all we can say. Salted licorice and caramac salutes the puddings but salted popcorn leads us towards a mild chili taste, with the sharpness of radishes and yet again the sophistication of a club sandwich with a slice of smoked salmon sitting on top. Children's laughter, that's all we can say. The word "quack", that's all we can say.


  This Yamazaki has won numerous awards... would we agree?
Finish & Comments
Slightly longer than medium on this double, nay triple creamy ending! The puddings are back with chocolate swirl fudge, toffee and Laura's patented Nut Butter getting some good publicity! There's a nettly freshness as a sneaky crab sidles in for shelter right at the death. Bloody crabs...
Cost
~£110 (70cl)
Useful Links
Nonjatta: Yamazaki   |   http://nonjatta.blogspot.co.uk/2007/04/yamaza
The Whisky Exchange: Yamazaki 18yo   |   http://www.thewhiskyexchange.com/P-2941.aspx
Rating
We've always scored out of 10 in our group (see number in red box, below), with scores regularly given across that spectrum. The value out of 100 below is adjusted to the scale most commonly used for whisky reviews, to allow for better comparison.


82 / 100


7.0
Average score



Detailed scores (out of 10)
Ali: 7
Fran: 8
Hamish: 7
Jamie: Null
Laura: 5.5
Liz: 8
Martin: 6.1
Phil: 7
Shelley: 7.6
Tasting Game Points (out of 6)
Ali: 1.25
Fran: 2.25
Hamish: 2.33
Jamie: 0.25
Laura: 2.5
Liz: 1
Martin: 3.75
Phil: N/A
Shelley: 1.75

 


 
[ for other thoughts on whisky and more in-depth activities of the group, check out whisky on meiotic ]