Mars Tsunuki – 2018/2024 5 Year Old Bourbon Refill Hogshead 20ppm #T803 (70cl, 58.5%)

This is a five-year-old Japanese single malt from the Mars Tsunuki distillery, distilled in 2018 and bottled in 2024 at 58.5% ABV in a 70cl bottle. It matured in a refill bourbon hogshead of American white oak and was made with peated malt at 20ppm. Tsunuki stands in Kagoshima prefecture on the island of Kyushu, between Mount Choya and Mount Kuraya, where it draws its spring water. The whisky is medium-peaty, gently malty, mineral and marine. The nose combines clay, leather, grist and delicate peat with sea spray and seaweed. On the palate come chocolate with sea salt, orange liqueur, doughnuts, pralines and hazelnuts, and the finish adds rosemary, espresso and mirabelle plum jam.