Mars The Y.A. #03 (70cl, 51%)

Mars The Y.A. #03 is a blended malt Japanese whisky bottled at 51% in a 700ml bottle. Y.A. stands for Yakushima Aging. It marries whiskies from the Komagatake Distillery in Nagano and the Tsunuki Distillery in Kagoshima. The whisky matures entirely in casks stored in the Mars warehouse on Yakushima, a World Heritage Site, where the air is tropically humid, salty and almost constantly rainy. The maturation runs between 4 and 6 years. The nose offers lemon tea, honey and leather. The palate is smooth and fruit-forward, with banana and ripe pear, and the finish carries a gentle salinity.