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Wednesday, February 23, 2022

Suntory Blender's Choice, Ladies Open 2016

The Suntory Ladies Open has been part of the LPGA tour annually since 1990, with cancellations in 1995 (earthquake) and 2020 (coronavirus). The whiskymaker has released bottlings for event. How often, I don't know. In fact, I don't know much about this bottling. The fellow who split up his bottle noted that there's some Hakushu malt in it, and the Dekanta site says it was bottled at a bold 48%abv. As with Monday's Expo '70 blend, I'll try this neat and within a mizuwari.

Brand: Suntory
Ownership: Beam Suntory
Type: Blended whisky
Country: Japan
Age: NAS
Maturation: ???
Exclusive to: Suntory Ladies Open LPGA Tournament, 2016
Alcohol by Volume
: 48%
(from a bottle split)

NOSE

There's chalk, raw grains, caramel and brine in the nose. Smaller notes of metal and flowers show up after some time.

The palate is loaded with honey and heat. It seems to get hotter with time, but also picks up oranges and toasted grain notes. It has a decent mouthfeel as well.

It finishes warm, toasty and tangy, with oranges and barley.

The mizuwari has malt in the middle and oranges on the sides. It's lightly sweet and phenolic.

WORDS WORDS WORDS

Lighter in color than the Expo '70, it also reads much younger. The palate's honey note is nice, but I really prefer this as a mizuwari, which may have been the whisky's purpose since the Open is held in June. It's very similar to Hibiki Japanese Harmony with a bigger wallop, which make sense ABV-wise, but that's not really a hot endorsement from me. It really could not match the Expo 1970's delivery.

Availability - Secondary market?
Pricing - ???
Rating - 79

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