There's nothing new about the Koji fermented barley. The process was developed in 1891 by Dr. Jokichi Takamine at a distillery in Peoria, Illinois. The idea to use the Koji to break down the complex carbohydrates in barley rather than going through the time consuming and expensive malting process was revolutionary at the time. His process was ultimately not adopted, although his visionary work in medicine and culture will endure for eternity. Similar enzymes extracted from Koji are used regularly in the Canadian whisky production process, but no one has worked to recreate the process until now. The Shinozaki Distillery in Fukuoka began experimenting with technique almost three decades ago. The result is an exceptionally balanced barley whisky that stands up wonderfully against malted whiskies. This small cache of ultra aged Japanese whiskies are some of the old 100% barley whiskies available anywhere in Japan these days. Let's go for the 20 year!!! The nose is big and pungent with huge toasted vanilla bean, freshly roasted coffee, and tense vibrant dried tropical fruit. We've also got a strong nutty character developing here, a true sense of age almost rancio. Behind all that a creamy butter frosting and hints of roasted hazelnuts. The palate is medium bodied and textural. This one still has an American whiskey vine on the palate, but the nose much closer toward old highland malt. An extremely unusual, dichotomous and delicious experience.