Hakushu Sherry Cask 2014 is the third release in Suntory's Hakushu sherry series, launched in Japan on 18 February 2014. Like the 2013 edition it was limited to 3,000 bottles at 48%, though this one is drier and more spice-led.
About This Whisky
The 2014 edition followed the same recipe as before: Hakushu matured in sherry casks, vatted and bottled at 48% for the Japanese market, with 3,000 bottles made. Next to the 2013 release it has more wood spice and a sweet-and-sour, balsamic streak, with the sherry wood clearly in charge and the distillery's herbal side sitting further back.
Tasting Profile
- Nose: Toffee, almond paste and dark raisins, with a slightly sour, balsamic edge.
- Palate: Dry and medium weight, with prunes, clove and cinnamon bark.
- Finish: Long and drying, on cocoa, old leather and pipe tobacco.
Serving & Food
Take it neat at about 18°C in a tulip-shaped glass; it does not need water. After dinner it works well with Peking duck pancakes with hoisin, braised beef cheek, or a plate of dates and walnuts.
How to Enjoy
A side-by-side tasting with the 2013 edition, or anyone who likes dry, spicy, sherried malt.
Product Details
Producer: The House of Suntory
Distillery: Hakushu
Country: Japan
Style: Japanese single malt whisky
Release: 2014 (18 February 2014, Japan)
Outturn: 3,000 bottles
Cask Focus: Sherry cask
ABV: 48%
Proof: 96
Volume: 700ml
About the Distillery
Suntory calls Hakushu its mountain forest distillery, and the name is literal. Most of the roughly 82-hectare estate is woodland, part of it kept as a bird sanctuary, with the distillery buildings set in clearings among the trees.
Water comes from rain and snowmelt in the Southern Alps that seeps through granite and emerges soft and clean. In the glass that setting usually shows as herbs, green apple and gentle peat. The sherry series set out to see how that spirit would carry the weight of European oak.