Our fifth WACWAC meeting was help at Ian Fowkes-Smith's abode and a 'magnicent seven' of us turned up to imbibe the Uisce Beatha from the land of the rising sun - Japan.  It was good to welcome Ian's friend Andy who came as a guest to the meeting.

Our first whisky was Akashi Single Malt from the White Oak (Eigashima) Distillery - a small, family-run distillery that only produces around 40,00 ltrs of whisky each year. 

Despite it being the smallest bottle at only 50cl, it was the most expensive of the evening at over £62.  It had slight baked-apple aroma and when tasted, you most definately got a faint whiff of smokeyness from the lightly peated barley that comes all the way from Scotland.  Water diluted the taste nicely...

Our second whisky was an excellent Yamasaki Distiller's Reserve from the oldest distillary in Japan, established by the two 'fathers' of Japanese whisky back in 1923.  The deep gold colour gave a clue to the rich, red-fruits and whiff of Cherry that came off the aroma.  The palate gave a slight fudge taste with a very nice finish of sweet vanilla.  A superb whisky..

These first two however were merely the warm-up acts to the final tasting of an absolutely delicous Nikka Coffey Malt Whisk which was voted as the 2018 winner of the Japanese Whisky of the Year by Jim Murray in his famous and much-respected Whisky Bible publication.  'Coffey' refers to the type of still that the spirit is distilled in - in 'Coffey Still' - rather than any coffee taste connections...

This deep gold whisky, had a warming nose of cream and toffee apples - even cake spices - before the rich taste was felt - that of soft creamy toffee and with  a citrus-tinge.... adding water nade it even better, tasting of warm, runny honey...  beautiful!

Ian F-S invited us to blind-taste a mystery whisky that he had already poured into a decanter at the centre of the table.. Some of us correctly named the floral and delicate nose - and we were close to naming it... a 12yo Glenfiddich - a classic speyside, that after drinking the Nikka Coffey, came across as a very light and drinkable smooth whisky.

Finally a holiday present was opened and shared around - Bajtra - a Maltesea Liqueur made from the Prickly Pear, a member of the Cactus family.  It was a tad too sweet for some but rounded off the meeting nicely...

Many thanks were given to Ian F-S for superbly hosting us all...