Togouchi Premium Japanese Blended Whisky

Chugoku Jozo calls their whisky Togouchi, after the city where it matures. Togouchi, by the way, merged with two other cities and together they became Akiota. Just so that you know what to look for on the map. We are in the mountain area of Nishi Chugoki Sanchihi, where there was once built a tunnel for a train, but the project was never completed. Now Chugoku Jozo uses that 362 meter long tunnel for maturation. There is a NAS-version (which we are trying here), but also an 8, 12 and 18 years old. There is also a bottling named ‘Kiwami’, meaning ‘supreme’. What few know is that this whisky is not distilled in Japan! This blend is in fact composed from imported Scottish malt and Canadian grain. Once Chugoku Jozo has paid the import duties and put the casks in their tunnel for maturation, they are naturalized to Japanese whisky. What a strange story! It smalls young a peaty, but in all honesty… it stinks! While I do get hints of sweet nuts and breakfast cereals, it is mostly the smell of rotting plants that soil my nostrils. It also has a burnt edge. What a pity. It is oily and soft. On the palate I get mostly grain cookies and honey with just a little bit of peat, but it is unmistakable. A small development of smoke makes some amends and luckily the stench of the nose does not translate into an offnote on the palate. In the medium long finish, it is the peat that has the final say. I had probably expected too much of this, but I must admit I do not care for this one. The nose especially was dreadful.