Review: The Hakushu 18 Years Old
The Hakushu is a whisky at ease in its own lightness, but ends up bearing a bit of weight via metaphors. It has been dragooned into service as a forest in a glass, a meditation, a mountain breeze from the Japanese Alps miraculously bottled and sold at luxury elite prices. However, what arrives is far more deliberate than the rhetoric of magic, mist and moss. There is no fable to be told, and it is not some secret recipe from an ancient monk hidden away in the mountains: it is a well-constructed, well-aged whisky made by people who care about craft.
The Hakushu 18 Years Old Review
On the nose, there is smoke, but not the kiln smoke you’d expect from a brutish Islay single malt. This is a thin strand, more like last night’s campfire slowly extinguishing. Under it arrive notes of green apple, pear and lime. A little fresh mint and a trace of fennel arrive with a few drops of water. The palate unfolds deeper, with peat reappearing as structure rather than showcase: a faintly ashy, herbal edge keeping sweetness on a short leash. The fruit darkens half a shade, with white peach, a touch of yuzu, and a subtle nuttiness, something between almond and chestnut, all passing through quickly. But through it all runs an unmistakable line of malt.
What is striking is not any single note dominating the finish, but the way the whole thing moves so effortlessly. It is never heavy or syrupy but carries enough impact to make its intentions known. A little ginger heat rises, does its appointed task, and then steps back. A bitter, overly steeped green tea note keeps the finish heightened and prevents it from slipping into cloying territory. As it evaporates, it unfolds and reintroduces earthier layers: a wisp of smoke and ghost notes of sweet malt and pine.
I’ve heard colleagues far more established than I praise Hakushu as if it were a Japanese rebuttal to the ostentatious whisky statements of the West. But the potential flaw in that argument is that, unlike other offerings from the House of Suntory, it isn’t attempting to declare anything. It fulfills its intended aims quite admirably. In an era when whisky is increasingly marketed as an opportunity for social media to admire its own reflection, Hakushu, right down to its minimal packaging, behaves as if the only audience that matters is the drinker pouring the dram. Whether this 18-year-old expression justifies the tariffs levied at the register is a separate, subjective discussion better suited for online group chats, bespoke hotel bars or poorly lit videocasts hosted by buddies in flannel shirts and stylish baseball caps.
A- / $700 [BUY IT NOW FROM FROOTBAT]
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