Sweet with fruit flavors like pear, quince and hints of red fruits and vanilla.
• Blended Japanese whisky produced at Mars Komagatake (fka Mars Shinshu) in Nagano, Japan
• Blend of 70% corn and 30% malted barley
• Aged between 2–5 years in ex-bourbon barrels
• Delicate nose of cinnamon and brûléed sugar; palate of Red Delicious apple skin and English breakfast tea with pleasant tannin on the finish
• 40% ABV
Mars Shinshu’s core blended whisky, named for Japanese whisky pioneer Kiichiro Iwai (pronounced E-Y), is inspired by the great whiskeys of America but retains a distinctly Japanese finesse. This whisky is perfect for classic Japanese highballs.
Sandwiched between Japan’s soaring Southern Alps and the towering Central Alps, at just over 2,600 feet, Mars Shinshu is Japan’s highest whisky distillery. The Hombo family have been distilling for more than a century and they added whisky to their repertoire in 1949. Back then the distillery was located inKagoshima Prefecture on the southern most island of Kyushu. Until 1984, it was the southernmost whisky made in Japan, which ended with the Hombo clan moving the distillery to the idyllic alpine setting of Miyada village in southern Nagano Prefecture. They chose this site for its cool temps, which slowed maturation, and the plentiful, soft, granite filtered snowmelt fed aquifers. Smart choice. The whiskies are elegant, smooth and very complex.