In the bottle: Slightly sweet and fragrant, with notes of fresh nectarine, watermelon rind and sour cherry Jolly Ranchers in the beginning before fading into the more earthy damp hay. If you really breath in deep you can also catch some vanilla and toasted rice toward the end, overall, highly enjoyable. 

On the rocks: The first sip is refreshing with a nice peppery, slightly spicy note at the back of the palate, this transitions smoothly to some of the fruitiness observed on the nose. If you let this sit on your tongue long enough you can taste a rich toasted rice with hints of vanilla and what seems like baking spice. Seki is a nice change from some of the sweeter shochu I have recently been trying, it has a nice crispness, especially just after pouring it over ice which gives this a great drinkabilty.

水割り Diluted with water

4:1, 3:2 ratio: This really smooths out and in my opinion loses a lot of what makes this interesting, it is not bad by any means, it just doesn't have any real substance behind it.