Matsui The Kurayoshi 18 Year Old (70cl, 50%)

Matsui The Kurayoshi 18 Year Old is a Japanese blended malt from Matsui Shuzo in Kurayoshi, Tottori Prefecture, bottled at 50% in a 70cl bottle. Matsui Shuzo is a sake and shochu house founded in 1910. This whisky blends imported Scottish malt whiskies with malt distilled in Japan, matured in American white oak and brought down to strength with soft spring water filtered through volcanic rock. It was named Best Japanese Blended Malt at the World Whiskies Awards 2021. Tasting notes describe buttered bread, aromatic oak and a grassy note on the nose, with fresh orange, black-tea smoke, cumin and brown sugar on the palate, and a vanilla finish with lingering smoke.