Distillery/Brand: Suntory Yamazaki
Region: Japan
ABV: 43%
Colour: Deep Gold

Nose: 22
Taste: 22
Finish: 21
Balance: 22

Review
Suntory is a powerhouse and even when some of their offerings fall short they still manage to stay reasonably north of average. This 18 year expression falls into that range.

The sherried nose is quite nice even though I started to detect a hint of fatigue. Nevertheless the dark chocolate, mocha coffee and strong almond figs make for a decent bouquet of aromas. There are also subtle woody mint overtones. But all of this is rounded off by a peculiar egg yolk note which I can only attribute to sulphur.

The palate is a swirl of honey and maple syrup sprinkled with chocolate rum raisins and finished off with a pinch of banana cinnamon.

The only draw back in this expression is the finish as it leaves a cloying sulphury after taste which is quite dry.

Rating: 87