Colour: Auburn, tawny with a hint of orange.

On the nose: Fuji has a very inviting nose. It’s bold and confident but not overpowering, somewhere between a Rye and Brandy. You’ll get notes of apple, banana, pears joined with baked fruits, cinnamon and liquorice.

In the mouth: The whiskey has a soft mouthfeel. There is more orange on the palate. The sweetness is joined by subtle spices, cinnamon, bitter chocolate, and some rye bread. There are estery, ripe fruit notes which I get with a number of the distillery’s whiskies. They attribute it to two factors – the 180-litre barrels they use, akin to the bourbon industry, to increase the contact area of the distillate with the wood. Inefficient and costly in space, but they believe it is worth it. The second reason is their proprietary yeasts. I suspect there has been some influence from the sake industry and the types of yeast used for Daiginjo Sake. The finish is medium. It starts sweet and then moves towards woodiness, incense and finally a homey rye bread feeling.