Mars Komagatake 2011 Sherry and White Oak 3 Year Old Japanese Single Malt Whisky (2014) 70cl

Mars Komagatake 2011 Sherry and White Oak 3 Year Old Japanese Single Malt Whisky (2014) 70cl

Mars for a lot of us is a chocolate bar but for Japan, a brand that has beautifully matured whiskies and two distilleries in the middle and south of Japan. 

From Mars Shinshu, Japan’s highest whisky distillery, comes this young cask strength single malt, Komagatake 3 Year Old. The distillery was mothballed from 1992 to 2007, and this was distilled in its first year of revival in 2011. The whisky was drawn from a combination of sherry and American white oak casks in 2014, bottled at a cask strength of 57% ABV. Only 5,200 bottles were released.

This 57% whisky has got a lot to recommend about it. Don’t let its tender age deceive you: this three-year-old, aged in bourbon and sherry casks, is a complex malt with a real fire to it.

Their 5 year old single casks taste more like a 18 year old one from Scotland. 

In 1985, Hombo Breweries opened the Mars Shinshu distillery in Miyata village at the foot of the Komagatake Alps in Japan’s Nagano prefecture. Whisky production there takes place only during winter, with the rest of the year spent brewing beer and distilling other spirits. However, with the popularity of whisky enjoying a resurgence in Japan, “winter” now lasts for about six months at the distillery.

*Due End August 2025

57% ABV

70cl