[White Oak] Meikakuna Trader Joe’s Excl.

Rating29.6/40
OriginJapan, Hyogo Prefecture
Distillery[White Oak]
Owner[Eigashima Shuzo]
BlenderShiki Shuzo Corporation
StyleBlended Whisky
Strength43% (86 Proof)
RetailerTrader Joe’s

Despite there being virtually no information on the bottle, the clue to this having been distilled at Eigashima Shuzo’s White Oak distillery is that the bottle says this was distilled in Hyogo prefecture. White Oak is the only distillery there. Between that and some digging through public US shipping records I’m about 95% certain that I’ve got this right. Either way this little gem is exclusively sold by Trader Joe’s. And at a surprisingly low price given the rather steep prices fetched by Japanese whiskies off late.

Nose: A rowdy crowd of freshly cut thin slices of barely ripened green apples explodes out of the glass and noisily rattles about the whole place. Right after things calm down a bit as soon as a well-dressed group of dignified red apples enters the room in a much more quiet and orderly fashion. Between the two influences the nose evolves into a rather nice and interesting experience of, you probably guessed it, appleness. Oh, and someone recently polished all the wooden furniture with camphor hand lotion. (7.5 /10)

Palate: Wait, where did all the apples go? There’s a slice of spice across the middle of the tongue that seems to extend neither to the front nor the back. I don’t think I’ve ever had a whisky with a palate that sits sideways across the mouth like a stuck piece of 2×4. With the apples having left the party the polished wood furniture comes to the fore, slowly shifting from the nose’s hand lotion notes to a more untreated kind of oak that has a bit of a roughness to it. It even occasionally tries to bite you with tiny bitter teeth. What starts as spiciness eventually evolves into a continuous, wide-spread sensation of gentle sparkling on the surface of your tongue. (7.1/10)

Finish: This is where the oak lives. Almost dry, a lovely wood note that reveals brighter notes each time when breathing out. Here and there bitter spots come out of nowhere and fade again. There is even a subtle coating of smoke in the back of the throat that comes alive on every breath. For a bottle strength whisky this fills out surprisingly well over time though there’s, unsurprisingly, not a lot of chest action. Still a pleasant and mild warmth manages to settle it after a while. (7.8/10)

Balance: If it wasn’t for that bit of roughness on the palate and the occasional bitter edge biting you out of nowhere this would be pretty damn good. In many ways it still is, especially considering the rather low price for a Japanese whisky. I did not expect to but I really quite like this. (7.2/10)

Trader Joe’s Premium Rum Cask Finish

Rating19.7/40
OriginScotland, Highlands
DistilleryNot Specified
BottlerWilliam Grant & Sons via Quality Spirits International
StyleSingle Malt
CaskPremium Rum Cask Finish
Strength40% (80 Proof)
RetailerTrader Joe’s
WhiskybaseWhiskybase

Trader Joe’s describes it as having been matured in traditional oak casks until it had achieved the perfect balance and flavor, upon which it was transferred into first-fill premium rum casks to increase the depth of flavor. Sadly I must report that I have discovered neither perfection nor premium anything in this whisky. I wish this one had turned out to be one of those hidden treasures in the twenty to thirty US dollar range, in part because I generally like the influence of rum casks on whisky, but, alas, it did not. William Grant & Sons bottled this through a subsidiary of theirs. Since WG&S currently own only Speyside single malt distilleries in Scotland (Balvenie, Glenfiddich and Kininvie) the Highland label is either somewhat inaccurate by SWA standards, though sometimes Speysiders are labeled as Highlanders, or they bottled juice from a distillery not their own for this. Balvenie does play around with rum casks, e.g. for their 14yo Carribbean Cask releases, so perhaps this is something made there that wasn’t deemed fit for use in a proper, labeled Balvenie.

Nose: The rum finish isn’t completely obvious here though there is a presence of it. It’s less like nosing rum-finished whisky than it is like nosing somewhat plain whisky sloshing over a framed photo of brown sugar. Eventually more rummy molasses begins to seep through pushing a few classic whisky citrus sparkles into the background. Neither element is particularly prominent and both are somewhat… simple. Decent enough, I guess, though the sugar gives it a decidedly non-premium, one might even say cheap, feel. (4.9/10)

Palate: The entrance is rather goopy but it does deliver a considerably more detailed report on the sugars and citrus fruit involved. That report has been printed on a thin sheet of wood. Not at all bad, actually. It’s really surprisingly entertaining after the less than thrilling nose. That is until you swallow it, anyways. (5.9/10)

Finish: Bah! All the nice, interesting and shiny bits that popped out on the palate quickly sink into a dull, sugary swamp that sucks the life right out of everything. Just a bored, plain, sweet coating is all that’s left behind. A few desperate lemons struggle valiantly for a few moments, trying to stay afloat, but they too are quickly sucked down into the sludge. The best thing about the finish is a soft hint of warmth in the chest. (4.1/10)

Balance: I’m always happy to find pearls on the bottom shelf. But this ain’t one. It’s more like a small, boring but not totally ugly picture of a pearl that someone put into an oversized and rather lame picture frame. Unfortunately they mounted the picture with lots of sugary glue so there is nothing you can do about it. I am disappoint. Anything one might even remotely consider “premium” is crammed into the brief but enjoyable palate. If you must drink this whisky I recommend holding onto the whisky in your mouth for as long as humanly possible for that is where all of the limited joy is. (4.8/10)