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Ichiro's Malt Card King Of Hearts 1986 23yo 55.4% PX sherry butt American oak. The incredible nose offers Matabele ant(formic acid and esters associted with sherry butts), deep rich sherry wood, inkwell, raisins, stewed prunes, dark chocolate, vanilla, dark toffee and rumtopf. The palate is dense, rich, full-bodied raisin syrup drying to a wooded cabernet that is exquisitely long and drawn out. This is reminiscent of the huge cask strength expressions from Kirin's Karuizawa range. Water opens this with caramel toffee and stewed dark fruits with some smoke eventually revealing itself, while the palate is now more syrupy sweet and textured with the peat struggling in the depths with the plummy oak leaving a long and lingering coating of sherry and cabernet sauvignon. A big, bold, rich, take no prisoners, exquisitely sherried expression from the late Hanyu distillery.94
