In the bottle: A nice slightly sharp rice shochu nose at the start, once it calms down you can get a good sense of what to expect in the bottle; all the big notes are there, vanilla, caramel, custards and something that reminds me of vanilla orange soda. Overall, this feels nice, refined and fresh.
On the rocks: Unbelievably smooth, almost creamy, with big notes of vanilla and burnt caramel; it drinks so cleanly, it is hard to feel the 35% alcohol. The amber hue in the glass gives the impression of oak aging (which I could not find anything online to support this); however, I do not catch any specific oaky notes, so not sure where that is coming from.
水割り Diluted with water
4:1, Kokura on the rocks is already smooth and with a little water, this almost smooths out too much and all of the defining notes become too soft.
Paired with chocolate: Now that is a beautiful pairing, those nice vanilla and caramel notes blend into a perfect balance with the semi-dark chocolate, reminds me of a dark chocolate ganache with some hints of citrus. Paired with an 80% dark chocolate it becomes so rich and velvety; this would make a great secret ingreditent in a chocolate cake.
Enjoy on-the-rocks
Name: 古蔵2002年謹製 Kokura 2002 Vintage
Type: 米焼酎 Rice shōchū
Ingredients: 米、米麹（国産）Rice, Rice Koji (Domestic)
Alcohol: 35%
Distillery: 松の泉酒造 Matsunoizumi Shuzō
Address: 169-1 Uekita, Asagiri, Kuma District, Kumamoto 868-0422
Website: https://www.matsunoizumi.co.jp/
Additional Content: There is a short introduction to Matsunoizumi and this amazing shochu as well.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvFTbwH2dW8
Reflections on this shōchū
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This was one of the first bottles I bought at Mongatari in Tokyo and was a suggested of the young guy behind the counter, while it took me a little over a year to open it up, it proved to be a key reason why I always try to stop by when in town.
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Definitely one of the best bottles I have opened in a long time, it hits every beat you could want in a rice shochu, amazingly smooth, and packed full of huge notes of caramel, vanilla, and toasted rice.
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It is tough with some of these bottles when you cannot find a lot of information on them, the amber hue certainly gives the impression of barrel storage; however, I did not catch a lot of the typical notes that oak leaves behind. Just wish there was a little more information to be found.
Bottle label and Information
Front Label
Box
