Kamiki Intense Wood
Japanese Blended Malt - Cedar Wood | 48% ABV
Score: 6/10
Good stuff.
TL;DR
A lane departure, but who knew liquid wood could taste this good
Liquid Wood
Japanese culture, in many respects, exists worlds apart from mainstream Scottish culture. I'm not referring to the well-known realms of anime and manga, nor the lively traditions of karaoke, but rather to the more subtle and enduring aspects.
Take, for instance, the exquisite art of Kintsugi. In Japan, this ancient practice involves repairing a broken bowl with shimmering gold lacquer, highlighting the cracks instead of concealing them.
This beautiful philosophy embodies the notion that imperfections can hold immense beauty and that even shattered items can become more valuable through repair. It emphasizes the strength in embracing flaws and finding resilience in vulnerability.
Another profound concept is Ikigai, a Japanese philosophy that encourages individuals to seek purpose and joy in life. The term combines "Iki" (life) and "gai" (reason or value).
Though I may be simplifying, I believe Ikigai can be summarized by these three tenets: finding what you love, what you're good at, and what the world needs; striking a harmonious balance between your personal and professional life; and attaining a sense of fulfillment and accomplishment by pursuing your passions. Who could argue against a philosophy that champions joy and purpose?
Like many other cultures, there is much we can learn from Japan, but does this extend to whisky?
I recently embarked on an evening adventure with a dear friend in Glasgow. Despite not being a whisky aficionado, he has graciously joined me at tastings in the past. On this particular evening, we visited several well-known whisky establishments in the city's West End. As usual, I passionately extolled the virtues of my favourite Scotch whiskies, but my efforts seemed to fall flat yet again.
Then, a curious thing happened; he noticed the Japanese section on the whisky menu. Knowing his fondness for Japanese culture—he even owns a Kintsugi bowl—the idea of Japanese whisky sparked his interest. We promptly ordered a dram (or shot as I believe the Japanese refer to it), and to my delight, he enjoyed it, and then enjoyed another, different shot.
Now, many Japanese whiskies are blends, which can mean a smoother, less flavour-forward experience. However, I believe the key factor here was his personal interest in Japanese culture; that affiliation or situationism that I have personally had many times before in visiting a distillery or enjoying a particular dram in a particular location.
This experience has led me to revisit my rather limited collection of just two Japanese whiskies, both of which were gifts.
Review
Kamiki Intense Wood, Japanese Blended Malt, Japanese Cedar Wood finished, 48% ABV
£60 for 50cl
This was a gift I was given rather than a purchase. I am not sure it would have been an item I would have picked myself, which makes it a good present.
The Kamiki is, I would truly say, unusual. That is undoubtedly due to its longer finishing maturation in cedar wood casks. It markets itself as a unique Japanese blended malt whisky with a bold and distinctive character, which it certainly is.
I believe that Kamiki is the first whisky brand in the world to use these distinctive cedar barrels and they do seem to impart a deeply woody and aromatic profile. It is possible that the cedar finishing is the only remarkable thing about this. It is hard to find any information about what has been used in the blend other than it contains Japanese and other spirits from around the world. Perhaps without the cedar this would have been a bang average, unremarkable blend.
The colour is quite intense, especially in bright light which does give the suggestion that there could be some colouring at play here. Unfortunately, there is nothing on the bottle to confirm that no artificial colouring has been added and so we are left wondering. The website is heavy on the natural aspects of their whisky from which you may extrapolate that there is no added colouring, but we just don’t know for sure.
It is declared as non-chill filtered, which is helpful.
Score: 6/10
Good stuff.
TL;DR
A lane departure, but who knew liquid wood could taste this good
Nose
The nose is salt-heavy, but in a pleasant way, which doesn’t follow through fully into the taste. It is woody - as you would expect from the cedar - and there are definite notes of tea, not green tea as the official tasting notes suggests, more of a used Yorkshire tea-bag – and I am not a fan of tea.
Palate
It is a more complex flavour than I would ordinarily expect from a blend, but most of that seems to be cedar related. It is spicy with some pepper and cinnamon and a hint of toasted chestnut. The wood is like a burnt or charred taste rather than the freshly cut cedar I had in my mind before trying it. The liquid is voluminous and slightly oily on the mouth; it does linger on the palate for an incredibly long time - and I mean long - but in a very pleasant way. In fact, it lingers so long you almost feel that you’re cheating on the previous sip in taking another.
The Dregs
I like this Kamiki as a curiosity piece - one of those gems in your collection that you can whip out to astonish someone with its audacious uniqueness or when the mood strikes for something offbeat. Would I want to indulge in multiple drams (shots) of it on a typical evening? Frankly, no, it's a bit too outlandish for that.
However, it is a splendid and welcome deviation and, witnessing what the change in wood type does to it is fascinating. On a geeky note; I am intrigued by exactly how much time it basked in that cedar wood. Many whisky enthusiasts are aware that distillers experiment with an array of wood types such as cherry wood, Mizunara oak from Japan, acacia, or chestnut and it will be interesting to see if any of those woods impart an equally intense effect on the spirit as the cedar has for Kamiki.
Priced at £60 for a 50cl bottle (£84 equivalent for 70cl), it may be on the expensive side for a curiosity piece, but it is undeniably a quality spirit.
Score: 6/10
Tried this? Share your thoughts in the comments below. CC
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