Umiki Blended Whisky

Umiki Blended Whisky, NAS, 46 %

OK, this is exciting. We have another world first here people! The world’s first blended whisky finished in pine tree barrels, and they also claim to be the world’s first “ocean fused whisky”. This, dear readers, is the Umiki Blended Whisky from Japan.

First off, I have not been able to find out whether or not there is an actual Japanese distillery involved in making this product. A Japanese bottler is definitely involved, but is there any whisky distilled in Japan involved? Who knows. If you know, please let me know! All I have to go on is this rather spartan looking website. They do state the following on the website:

“we blended pure desalinated ocean water with ocean side distilled Japanese malt whiskies and imported grain whiskies”

Secondly, the pine tree barrels. Well, again as far as I know, this is the first whisky I have come across where pine tree barrels have been used. So, yeah, check!

Thirdly, the “ocean fused whisky”, what is that all about? Well what they say is this:

“To honor the life-giving ocean and the long-living pine tree that graces coasts of Japan, we blended pure desalinated ocean water with ocean side distilled Japanese malt whiskies and imported grain whiskies after finishing our curation in Japanese pine barrels.”

Well, guess what? Myken Distillery in Norway have been using desalinated Atlantic ocean water since they started back in 2014, and being located on a tiny island off the Arctic coast of Norway they certainly are ocean side. I therefore call bullshit on this claim by the Umiki team. However, being second in the world is not all that bad, and the whisky might still be nice. So, let’s check it out.

Nose: Whoa, Nelly! That’s unusual, to be sure. Is that a cask matured gin in my glass? Hmm, no, it is a blended whisky. These pine tree barrels will spin your head around like Dead or Alive. Lots of fresh pine wood and juniper notes here. Caramel, white pepper and vanilla are the only aromas to escape the forest. With time it does settle down a little, which is a good thing. I now pick up additional notes of citrus and

Taste: An angry body of medium size. This whisky is so not sweet I would call it unsweet. Black and white pepper, ginger and dry oak.

Finish: Medium long finish. Both fizzy and chewy in character. Caramel, ginger and vanilla. The green pine wood notes return on the finish - but more tempered than on the nose.

Comment: I found this both fun and interesting.

Score 82/100

PS! I just have to mention that while researching this whisky online I came across the Cask Fellows website. They appear to be one of very few retailers that have started selling the Umiki. The weird thing though is that they claim to sell the Umiki Blended whisky at USD 2 (two?!) per bottle, and they state that a bottle weighs in at 1814.36948 lbs!!! Wow!

Sláinte!
- Thomas