Hatozaki Small Batch 12 Year Old Umeshu Cask Finish (75cl, 46%)

Hatozaki Small Batch 12 Year Old Umeshu Cask Finish is a Japanese blended malt from the Kaikyo Distillery in Akashi, Hyogo. It combines single malts each matured for at least twelve years in American oak, then finished for about six months in casks that previously held umeshu, the Japanese plum liqueur. It is bottled at 46% in a 750ml bottle, non-chill-filtered and of natural colour. The brand is named after the oldest working lighthouse in Japan, which stands in Akashi harbour. The nose is cereal and light iodine with honeyed malt, pear and apricot. The palate brings orchard fruit, malt loaf and honey with a soft coastal salinity, and the finish is long and sweet, with jammy yellow plum.