Mars Komagatake 2012 Single American White Oak Hogshead #1578 Tokyo Whisky Festival 2019 Exclusive Release Japanese Single Malt Whisky (2019) 70cl

An exclusive for the Tokyo Whisky Festival of 2019 drawn from a single American White Oak Hogshead.

At 7.5 years, it’s the oldest post-revival Mars Shinshu single malt out in the wild right now. Given the Mars Shinshu Distillery was not making whisky from 1992 to January 2011, that’s right up there!

This is peated to 50ppm. It tastes more like 10ppm due to the malt backstop thaht prevents this from tasting overly peated at the forefront. Even on the nose there is not a great deal of peat to this one.

TASTING NOTES

Nose: Cinnamon sprinkled on oranges with a malty, leathery peat. Spices and wet moss

Palate: Bitter chocolate and liquorice, with a wonderful vanilla maltiness

Finish: Lasting oak with light smoke alongside dark chocolate and butterscotch

About Mars

Japan's highest distillery, Shinshu was built by the whisky division of the Hombo Shuzo Co, known as Mars, in 1985. It is located in Miyada, a village in the Nagano Prefecture, and operated for seven years before being mothballed in 1992. Despite being relatively succesful in their native market, Mars had not had the success of its competitors Nikka and Suntory on the global stage, and the struggling Japanese whisky market at the time forced the company's hand. In the subsequent years however, things began to improve, and Shinshu distillery was eventually re-opened in 2011. Mars bottles its single malt under the Komagatake brand, and have also opened a sister distillery called Tsunuki to provide for its popular blends.

This whisky has been aged in the stone warehouse of Mars Tsunuki distillery in Kagoshima. It is a vatting of ex-Bourbon cask aged spirit.

In 1985, Hombo Breweries opened the Mars Shinshu distillery in Miyata village at the foot of the Komagatake Alps in Japan’s Nagano prefecture. Whisky production there takes place only during winter, with the rest of the year spent brewing beer and distilling other spirits. However, with the popularity of whisky enjoying a resurgence in Japan, “winter” now lasts for about six months at the distillery.

60% ABV

70cl