Mars 4 Year Old 2020 Tsunuki Yakushima Aging Single Sherry Cask #2334 Foundations Japanese Single Malt Whisky (2024) 70cl
One of the famous 2024 single casks made available to try at Whisky Live Paris 2024. These indulgent, rich flavoured single casks have been making huge impressions with many who managed to have the chance to try them.
TASTING NOTES
Nose : deep, distinctive. Extremely complex, the aromatic palette offers a succession of wonderfully oxidative sequences (yellow wine, sherry vinegar, cherry brandy), oily (fresh walnut, pecan), spicy (curry, ginger), chocolatey and fruity (fig, date), each more breath-taking than the last.
Palate : racy, haughty. Overflowing with dynamism, the palate reveals new fruits (mirabelle plum, yellow plum, candied orange). It then evolves brilliantly towards more honeyed, powdery (cocoa, ginger), infused (laurel, verbena) and balsamic (resin, pine) registers.
Overall : intense, suave. At first, flavors of coconut milk, toffee, coriander, cherry and raisin underline the richness and generosity of the palette. Then, transporting us to the middle of an Andalusian wine cellar, it returns in full force to the oxidative, rancid tones of the aromatic palette.
About Mars
Japan's highest distillery, Shinshu was built by the whisky division of the Hombo Shuzo Co, known as Mars, in 1985. It is located in Miyada, a village in the Nagano Prefecture, and operated for seven years before being mothballed in 1992. Despite being relatively succesful in their native market, Mars had not had the success of its competitors Nikka and Suntory on the global stage, and the struggling Japanese whisky market at the time forced the company's hand. In the subsequent years however, things began to improve, and Shinshu distillery was eventually re-opened in 2011. Mars bottles its single malt under the Komagatake brand, and have also opened a sister distillery called Tsunuki to provide for its popular blends.
This whisky has been aged in the stone warehouse of Mars Tsunuki distillery in Kagoshima. It is a vatting of ex-Bourbon cask aged spirit.
In 1985, Hombo Breweries opened the Mars Shinshu distillery in Miyata village at the foot of the Komagatake Alps in Japan’s Nagano prefecture. Whisky production there takes place only during winter, with the rest of the year spent brewing beer and distilling other spirits. However, with the popularity of whisky enjoying a resurgence in Japan, “winter” now lasts for about six months at the distillery.
58% ABV
70cl
