Hanyu, 1988-2014, Ichiro's Malt The Game 6,  Shinanoya Private Bottling 10th Anniversary, Hogshead No. 471, 181/192, 51.9% abv.

Shinanoya released this Hanyu for their 10th Anniversary. It's the sixth bottle in The Game series, which was originally a series based on whisky distilled from Hanyu's last year of production, but this one bucks the trend. Label illustrations connect each of the bottles. This one is related to The Game 5 ("space puzzle" posted Dec 5, 2018). This is a tricky one; the back label is where the action is. The back label is a famous woodblock print "Taikomochi" (たいこもち), which is "Silhouette of a Jester" from the series "Sono omokage hodo yoku utsushie" (そのおもかげほどよくうつしえ), which is "Lingering Traces in Excellent Shadow Pictures"; a series that shows silhouettes and their humorous explanations. The front label shows the "front" of the shadow/silhouette, the warrior monk Benkei with the bell of Mii-dera. The myth/folktale behind Benkei and the bell is quite interesting, but I'll just let you google it. Also interesting is that this was bottled in 2014, but was sold via lottery by Shinanoya in January 2017. Did this bottle participate in a UFO abduction for probing? Got lost after bottling? What game is this bottle playing?

Nose: light caramel, light cinnamon, perhaps some stone fruits in the background.

Palate: initial palate is an old medium treated redwood with honey, mid palate is spicy honey, bitter sour wood and a lighter honey on the back palate. Honey tea? Overall sweet and a little one-dimensional.

Finish: medium, sharp, a little dry.

Not bad, the sharp prickly elements are a little strange though. Overall honey and wood, but lacking the vanilla/toast I'm used to in Ichiro's malts.

Grade: B

Couldn't find any quantifiable, reliable reviews.

Image courtesy of Eric Yee.

Eric Yee

🇭🇰 🇺🇸(LA, SF) -> 🇯🇵 (京都, 東京) -> 🇰🇷 (서울, 부산)