Style: Musky Sherry bomb
Nose:
Hot Ribena boiling with peppermint leaves, quite stringent with all the spirit heat. Dunnage muskiness starting to surface. Woah, woah, what’s this? I haven’t tried a lot of Miyagikyo but this is something very different… Plenty of umami, a dash of chicken stock and soy sauce all simmering in a dusty room. Peculiar, to say the least. Blackcurrants buried deeply underneath.
Palate:
The deep sherry core breaks the dusky crust and showing its true colour on the palate. Syrup-thick black currants, icy mint slightly torched with fire. Incredibly sweet and rich. What caked within the sherry juggernaut seems to be a fresh stack of green grass. Brown sugar mixes with caramel sauce with distant amber smoke. Red fruits boiling with herbs. Very, very nice.
Finish:
Almost-Chinese herbal tones laying on overripe red fruits, tropical fruits cocktail punchbowl to finish. Delicious.
Thoughts:
Sometimes I just assume all Miyagikyo(s) are light and delicate but this is nothing like it, in fact, quite the contrary – Dusty and musky aroma followed by a powerful sherry bomb explosion on the palate. Incredibly moreish and lip smacking delicious. Certainly a memorable dram, too bad I didn’t get one when I had a chance…
☆☆ [Highly Recommended]
[60.0% • Independent Bottling • 2014 Bottled • 1996 Distilled • Aged 17 Years • Single Cask • Non Chill Filtered • Non Coloured • 479 Bottles • Matured in First Fill Pedro Ximenez Sherry Butt • 1 of 479 Bottles • **]
-Esmond
