Hakushu 12 Review

Hi everyone,

We've got a Japanese whisky today from Hakushu, the sister distillery to Yamazaki.

I've already moaned quite a bit about rising prices and lack of availability for Japanese whisky, so I won't do too much of that today...

These big Japanese distilleries like Yamazaki and Hakushu, owned by Suntory, are interesting because they have a lot of different stills, different condenser types and different peating levels to create a load of different types of whiskies that they can then blend together to create the 'perfect' whisky...

To me, this style can sometimes come across as slightly over-engineered though.

Oh, also thanks to my friend Tom for sharing his sample!

Hakushu 12 43%

Colour: Light Gold

Body: Light/Medium

Nose: Coconut and light peat smoke. Perfumed, exotic spice, vanilla, a green sappy note. Quite creamy. Jam, lime chutney, vanilla fudge.

Taste: Light arrival, creamy with building vanilla, coconut and then green sappy peat smoke. Juicy fruit and fruity acidity, mango and lime, a little spice

Finish: Short length. Fades easily with jam and creamy vanilla.

There is very little peat on this, much less than I had expected. More of a perfumed thing about it. It comes up a little short though, especially when compared to the lovely citrus notes of the Yamazaki 12.

70/100

Thanks for reading!

Japanese Whisky Review #12

World Whisky Review #25

Whisky Network Review #381

Network Average: 74.6

Best Score: 92

Worst Score: 44

0-49 Terrible

50-59 Bad

60-64 Just About OK

65-69 Ok to Good

70-74 Good

75-79 Very Good

80-84 Excellent

85-89 Superb

90+ Magnificent

Full Disclosure Disclaimer: I currently work as a Brand Ambassador for Penderyn Distillery. The views expressed here are purely my own and do not reflect the views of Penderyn Distillery or The Welsh Whisky Company. I try to maintain as much objectivity as I can but feel free to take my reviews with as big a pinch of salt as you like. Furthermore, my rating scale is NOT based on a Parker type wine scoring scale or a school/college/university % or A-F grade score. I apologise for any seemly low or 'bad' scores given with my system and am sorry I can't say only nice things. Please keep in mind that I am ethically compromised and am unable to produce 100% unbiased reviews.

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