Another pre-Number One release, quite young. Lucky to even find these around. Had this in late 2019.

Nose: a sort of grape and fruit perfume, in time there are pastries, toast, and vanilla with time. I would assume this was a standard bourbon cask.

Palate: dry, medium body, initial palate is light fruit juice, mid palate shows the spice, also sweet,  wow the back palate shows strong, body seems to thicken, amounts of herbalness, a semi sort of wet old steamed lotus leaves, but more sugary. Ok with time it gets to herbal banana leaf as well as general huge herbal leaf. Impressive for old Zawa to be honest. Sherry casked for sure.

Finish: short to medium, a good amount of rum sugar, cardboard and paper in the aromas, the abv can be felt, almost saltwater shrimp shells, uni level gaminess, but without flavors other than those continuing from the palate.

This was a weird one... where the flavors seemed like a light whisky but then it turns into a strong gamey aged malt. The imbalance is screaming. Liked the different presentation, but didn't appreciate the contents of that presentation.

Image courtesy of Eric Yee.

Eric Yee

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