Whisky: Mars Komagatake 28 Year (1991)

Country/Region: Japan

ABV: 61%

Cask: American White Oak

Age: 28 Years (Distilled June 1991, Bottled Oct. 2019)

---

Nose: Ginger, plum, malty sugars, wispy smoke; tons of wood, caramel, wood resins, aniseed, orange, pepper, shiso, antiques.

Palate: Full-bodied, thick and viscous, tannic and woody, brown sugar, malty pastries, resinous, lacquered wood, incense, marshmallow, plums, molasses, cakes, baking spices.

Finish: Long and drying with plenty of wood, caramelized sugars, and wispy candle smoke.

---

Score: 8-9 (89)

Mental Image: Temple Indulgences 

Narrative & Notes: Ginger and plum cake by candle light; the aroma featured wispy smoke over gloriously rich honey, caramel, and baked stone fruits. Pickled plums and wood resins appeared with aniseed, orange rind, pepper, and shiso; perhaps like an onigiri with ample umeboshi amongst sandalwood antiques and burning incense. Full-bodied on the palate, the whisky was thick and viscous, a hefty malt with a woody richness that started with brown sugar cakes and ended with violins. Wood resins and lacquered wood appeared with burning incense, toasted marshmallows, and decadent plums cakes. Molasses and malty sugars carried on at the end with cinnamon, cloves, and shiso leaf. The finish was long and drying with plenty of wood, caramelized sugars, and wispy candle smoke.

This was essentially a ghost distillery product as Mars Shinshu shuttered in 1992, only reopening in 2011 with the old stills replaced in 2014. According to Stefan van Eycken, the distillery aimed to restart with a clean slate, using trial and error to craft a different character for the whisky— there was virtually no one left from the earlier production era. The cask in question today was distilled in 1991, during the penultimate year of operation, before the distillery shuttered with its maturation warehouses overflowing and the industry suffering a similar slump as that of Scotland,

Overall, fabulous. This Mars Shinshu malt was brimming with malty sugars and a rich woodiness— it was all classy desserts by candlelight. Despite the high abv, atypical for Japanese whiskies, especially at this age, the alcohol was well-integrated and provided an underlying peppery accent. It was woody— though it felt more balanced than the younger pre-closure Mars I reviewed this week.