The corporate ownership structure of the Blanton's label has led to chronic supply issues in the United States and a vast array of bottles available basically everywhere except the USA. Given that the marque is owned by a Japanese corporation, it is unsurprising that some of the most interesting bottlings are Japanese exclusives. Thankfully in today's global economy (and with the skyhigh demand for Blanton's in the USA) it makes sense to get these bottle back to the states and on retail shelves. There are two Takara bottlings, both reportedly 2 years older than the standard US bottling. Takara Black is bottled at 40% ABV. The following review is from single barrel #16 dumped on 3/1/22. Color: liquid amber. Nose: caramels, candy corn, vanilla, oak tea, cocoa nibs, candied cherries, cinnamon bark, and fresh cream. Palate: Sweet and mellow - the 40% ABV is so delightfully easy this just rolls around your taste buds but doesn't lack for intensity of flavor. Having lived in a world of high octane Bourbon barrels for so long, this is a refreshing and wonderful reminder that 80 proof can still taste so incredibly good when the raw materials are unparalleled in quality. While the unique export from the US/import to Japan/export from Japan/import back to the US situation of these bottles does add some significant markup over their original Japanese MSRP, we are proud to sell these whiskies of outstanding quality at reasonable markups compared to the rest of the market.