A 1988 Komagatake single cask from Mars Shinshu, matured in American white oak cask #555 and released in autumn 2013 at around 25 years old. It was bottled at 46% and gave 468 bottles.
About This Whisky
Distillery manager Koki Takehira chose this cask for one of the autumn single-cask releases of 2013. It was filled in 1988, only three years after the distillery opened and a few years before production stopped. The distillery reduced it to 46% rather than bottling at cask strength, which keeps it approachable. Tasters have described banana, leather and apricot on the nose, with vanilla, nuts and orange on the palate and a full, oily body.
Tasting Profile
- Nose: Banana, apricot and vanilla, with leather and a pinch of pepper.
- Palate: Full and oily. Spice, vanilla, nuts and orange, backed by old wood.
- Finish: Long and gently drying, with citrus peel and oak.
Serving & Food
At 46% this is easy to take neat. Serve at room temperature in a tulip glass, and skip the water unless you want to soften the oak. Good with apricot tart, roast pork loin or a handful of toasted cashews.
How to Enjoy
Anyone wanting to taste Mars spirit made before the 1992 shutdown, in a gentle, bourbon-oak style.
Product Details
Distillery: Mars Shinshu (now Mars Komagatake)
Country: Japan
Region: Miyada, Nagano
Category: Single cask Japanese single malt whisky
Vintage: 1988
Released: 2013
Age: About 25 years
Cask: American white oak #555
Edition Size: 468 bottles
ABV: 46%
Proof: 92
Volume: 750mL
About the Distillery
Hombo Shuzo opened its Shinshu distillery in 1985 in Miyada, a village in the Kamiina district of Nagano. It stands at 798 metres at the foot of Mount Komagatake in the Central Alps, and the single malt is named after that peak.
The timing was hard. Whisky sales in Japan were falling, and the stills went quiet in 1992. They stayed off until 2011, so the casks filled between 1985 and 1992 are all that exists of the original era.