Evaluation: Hatozaki Omakase Rye Third Version Mizunara Cask End

Hatozaki Grasp Distiller & Blender Kimio Yonezawa is a fourth-generation shochu distiller who started producing Hatozaki’s whisky line in 2017. Along with the model’s core expressions, Yonezawa and his staff produced restricted runs of their “Omakase” line.

The third such launch — restricted to underneath 3,000 bottles, and solely bought within the U.S. market — is an American rye whiskey that was completed in Mizunara casks on the Kaikyo Distillery. It’s the model’s first foray into the rye class. We don’t have way more data on the preliminary getting old or ending durations, and the discharge is non-age said.

Let’s see the way it tastes.

On the nostril, there’s oak and spice, every in ample provide. At first the predominant scent is of younger oak, however that’s a pink herring; after a couple of minutes within the glass, the wooden affect right here turns into spicier, hefty in black and pink peppercorns, in addition to cinnamon-scented vacation pine cones. Saddle leather-based, furnishings polish, birch bark, and crushed mint come subsequent.

Taken all collectively, it’s a bit like strolling right into a Christmas retailer on the native mall, with an array of spiced, woody scents hitting the nostrils all of sudden. (Although I’ll say nosing this rye is way extra nice than spending minutes perusing by way of such an institution.)

It’s a bit difficult to seek out the place the wooden spice ends and the rye spice begins, however maybe that’s a idiot’s errand. When you like a busy nostril, there’s loads to spend time with right here.

The palate is altogether calmer and extra composed than the nostril. The flavors come on a slight delay in distinction to the aromas that hit so instantly with oak and spice. Candy and wintergreen mint mix with vanilla across the midpalate, like a minty creme brulee. Rye spice settles in towards the again and sides of the tongue. Herbaceousness builds, with pops of dill and lavender offering some distinction to the heavy mint elements.

A mid-length end wraps up a story right here: intensely spiced and woody on the nostril, candy mint and herbs on the palate, and a gradual integration of each to finish. It’s only a tiny bit drying, throttling what would in any other case be the dram’s strongest act.

84 proof.

B+ / $95 / akashisakebrewery.com [BUY IT NOW FROM RESERVEBAR]

Hatozaki Omakase Rye Third Version Mizunara Cask End

$95