Mars Tsunuki Aging 2017 Single Sherry Hogshead Single Cask #2122 New Vibrations LMDW Exclusive Japanese Single Malt Whisky (2023) 70cl
The Mars Komagatake 6 years is an interesting bottling from the Shinshu distillery in Japan. It is a single malt whisky that was distilled in 2017 and bottled in 2023. With an alcohol content of 57%, this is quite a high-proof whisky.
This bottling is a single cask bottling. This means that the entire contents of this sherry cask with the number 2122 were bottled without the whisky being blended with other casks. In total, only 251 bottles of this whisky are available.
The flagship of the "New Vibrations" series from Mars. Four single casks were bottled, this bottling convinced us the most, we would even share the opinion of Japan experts that this single cask from Mars is one of the best that the distillery has brought to market in recent years. Extremely thick and lush, almost oily. A real sherry bomb, the powerful sweetness is wonderfully captured by the delicate campfire smoke (20 ppm). Prunes with roasted bacon. Storage in the subtropical Yakushima cellar on the southern tip of Japan proved to be a real booster for this whisky, the complexity of which suggests a much greater age.
TASTING NOTES
Nose: A little sweet fruit, delicious, with baked apple. Cinnamon, wood.
Taste: Soft on the palate, with baked apple, cinnamon, delicate wood and light sherry peat. Graphite.
Finish: Long finish with peat, graphite, lots of sherry and pepper.
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 successful 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.
57% ABV
70cl
