Matsui Mizunara Cask Single Malt Japanese Whisky (700ml)

Produced at the Kurayoshi Distillery in Tottori Prefecture, the Matsui range was introduced around 2018 to critical acclaim. This is a lower ABV version of the original award winning whisky which was bottled at 48%. For some of the talk dismissing Japan's Mizunara oak as just another marketing gimmick, there is something quite sensuous about the overall delivery here that is almost unlike any other. The spirit caresses the tongue, the malt has a light, vanilla-wafer-biscuit touch; dried coconut and purring spices unfurl with hints of cigar box, followed by a burst of crisp apple, fading on an exotic wood note. Though not particularly long, this is exquisite form for what must be predominantly young malt (Kurayoshi only started distilling their own whisky in 2017). The export label features Katsushika Hokusai’s Thirty Six Views of Mount Fuji with a fly-by of red-crowned cranes, native to Japan. Tasted from a 20ml sample.

Other reviews... slightly less bold and challenging than previous years, this is still an absorbing single malt, though perhaps now with a preponderance of toffee. However to say that it is anything less than delightful and an absolute treat would be both churlish and inaccurate. 91.5 points - Jim Murray's Whisky Bible 2025-26