95 Ultimate Spirits Challenge - Ultimate Spirits Challenge 2012

Chairman's Trophy Winner. This benchmark cocktail gin uniformly garners praise for its generous and soft palate, remarkably crisp and clean tang and subtle smoothness. Notes of coriander and cardamom merge brightly with citrus in this remarkable gin.

94 Wine Enthusiast

Maple, coconut and honey sweetness, even a hint of cookie dough entice nose and palate, finishing gently with warming baking spice and candied orange peel. Made from fresh sugarcane juice. - KARA NEWMAN

92 The Whisky Advocate

Blended by master distiller and blender Kimio Yonezawa from malt whisky matured in bourbon and sherry casks, and finished for 6 months in umeshu plum liqueur casks. The nose is fresh and fruity with flower shop, nectarine, ripe plum, mandarin peel, and light vanilla. The palate is balanced with a fantastic flavor trajectory: oranges, peppery spice, red apple, mango, apricot, hints of chocolate wrapped in smoke, and blackened oak. The most complex Hatozaki release to date.

94 Wine Enthusiast

This is made with a 95% rye recipe and aged 10 years. Expect bold oak and allspice aromas, while vanilla sweetness and peppery spice mingle on the palate. Distilled in Indiana, bottled in Kentucky. — Kara Newman TOP 100 2025

95 The Whisky Advocate

Rich fruitcake, black cherry, dried flowers chocolate-covered Turkish delight, walnut oil, and seasoned oak on the nose make this pretty special. The mouthfeel is thick and rich with flavors of heather honey, toffee, dried fruit, peppercorn, baked apple, fruitcake, nutmeg, hazelnut praline, black cherry, and milk chocolate. A long, satisfying finish delivers the same intensity of dried fruit, chocolate, and spice. A highly recommended blend aged to perfection.

97 Tastings.com (Beverage Testing Institute)

Gold color. Inviting aromas and flavors of caramelized fruits and nuts, strawberry shortcake and banana layer cakes, pistachio gelato, and buttery pound cake with a velvety, lively, fruity full body and a warming, complex, very long finish with notes of sarsaparilla float, rich baking spices, graham cracker and stroopwaffel, and honeyed mint chai. This is something quite special, a special Whiskey to be sipped and appreciated with special friends; both contemplative to focus on by itself but subtle and enjoyable enough to take a back seat to your guests.

95 The Whisky Advocate

Quality sherry casks deliver a quintessential Macallan nose of raisins, dried fruit, dark toffee, dates, chocolate, dried citrus peel, seasoned oak, and a smudge of spices. The integration is sublime, with all the elements from the European and American oak casks locking together perfectly. Citrus peel, toffee peppercorn, burnt sugar, coffee grounds, and dried vine fruit flavors dissipate to milk chocolate, macchiato, and oak. It’s unhurried, periodically shifting moods.

94 The Whisky Advocate

Honey, sanded oak, potpourri, charred oak, banoffee pie, dark fruits, green olive, coffeegrounds, ginger, pepper, and a savory leather note: plenty for the olfactory senses to grapple with. Soft fruits, maltiness, berries, chocolate, plum, bramble, red apple, and gently supportive spices to taste, it develops a superbly thick and chewy texture with a waxy mouthfeel on the finish. I consider this among blender James Saxon's best work to date. (3,246 bottles)Collectible