Togouchi 8 Year Old Blended Whisky 70cl

Togouchi whisky is a Japanese blend which incorporated malt from Scotland and grain from Canada. It’s therefore something of an international collaboration! Every whisky that goes into the blend is aged for at least eight years.

Togouchi Japanese whisky is a very interesting one: the whisky hasn't been distilled in Japan. The grain spirit comes from Canada and the malt spirit from Scotland and then it is blended and matured in a tunnel warehouse in Japan. The name "Togouchi" comes from the town where the tunnel - originally built for a railway but never used - is located.

Togouchi blended whisky is produced by the Chogokujozo company in Japan. The Chogokojozo company was started in 1918 as makers of Sake and Shochu, near to the city of Hiroshima in Japan. In 1990 they added whisky to their portfolio by importing spirit for blending and then maturing it in a disused railway tunnel that was dug 387 metres into the mountainside in 1970 by JR Japanese railway company, in order to expand the line up from Kabe to Hamada in Shimane. The conditions within remain at a constant temperature of 14ºC and 80% humidity, making it ideal for maturation of their spirits.

Labelled as Japanese blended whisky, this starts life as distillate in Scotland or Canada and is imported to Japan before taxes and duty are paid (thus naturalizing it and making it ‘Japanese’ whisky). The whiskies are blended and placed in oak barrels to mature inside a tunnel. The Togouchi ‘Premium’ or ‘NAS’ blend states that it was matured for a minimum of 8 years in Spanish sherry oak casks.

TASTING NOTES

Colour:

Light champagne, refractive gold (3/20), thick heavy tears

Nose:

Vanilla and icing sugar, vanilla custard and frosting, spirit and grainy in nature, pear drops and ripe banana esters, nutty almonds and hazelnut

Taste:

Oily and buttery, creamy vanilla, light, honey sweet, almond and hazelnut, hints of peaty prickle or woody oak spice, perhaps tannins, caramel sauce and buttered popcorn, hints of latte coffee

Finish:

Medium, sweet, pear drops and foam banana sweeties, vanilla and oak

40% ABV

70cl