Mars Shuzo is the quiet giant of Japanese whisky. The best kept secret in the whisky world are the two exceptional distilleries, Komagatake and Tsunuki. While both have been available on occasion in single malt form, they are almost never seen in the US as single casks, and typically a single barrel of either commands a significant premium. The company can trace its roots to the origins of Japanese whisky through their founder, Kiichiro Iwai. Just like Suntory, Hombo Shuzo was there from the start. It was in fact Iwai who enlisted Masataka Taketsuru to travel to Scotland in order to learn the age old techniques for making the world’s most complex whisky. Upon his return, Hombo was not able to construct the distillery, so Taketsuru-san took the plans to Suntory. But in 1949, Kiichiro Iwai would complete his dream of building pot stills and distilling Hombo’s own malt whisky. And while Iwai-san represents one of the three pillars of Japanese whisky, their modern commitment to the category rests squarely on the shoulders of one great man, Kazuto Hombo. Hombo-san is a true lover of the finer things, and his love of whisky kept the wonderful old stills running. His belief that Japanese whisky would one day be a worldwide success is singularly connected to the construction of the Nagano plant where the original stills were moved, and while Hombo-san was ahead of his time, the plant would see very little production over the next 30 years. He was ready when the whisky boom began and production restarted in 2014. Now Komagatake is making some of the world’s best whisky. Stylistically, the distillery offers an elegant and refined malt, but this single cask is truly superb. Peated to 20 ppm, you might expect something very smoky and forward, but instead you have an elegant, ultra complex expression of malt that is on par with the very finest available anywhere. Let’s dive in! One of the old single casks out there. The color is a shimmering yellow gold (0.5). The nose is an explosive mixture of maritime flavors and sweet orchard fruit: oyster shell, yuzu peel, galangal, creosote, white ash, pear preserves, licorice root, salted grilled lemons, and lanolin. The palate is razor sharp and chiseled, with a big citrus note and a strong saline character up front, followed by similar white ashy smoke, which does not dominate whatsoever the fresh, juicy fruit: greengage, apricot, green grapes. It absolutely adores water, softening the smoke and reminding me of a well matured, less tarry style Caol Ila. An absolute winner by any measure that feels like a rapturous eye opener to the potential of this wonderful little mountain distillery.