A small batch Highwayman single malt bottled in collaboration with Tokyo's outstanding Aloha Whisky Bar and Japan-based whisky personality & consultant Armando Sandoval. Half of the 240 x 500ml bottle batch stayed in Australia, while the other half travelled all the way from Byron Bay to Tokyo!
Almost sounds like the opening to one of those "walks into a bar" jokes, doesn't it? A bald-headed Australian man named Dan and a bald-headed Mexican man named Armando walk into a whisky bar owned by a Hawaiian man (with a full head of hair) named David, and they decide to bottle a whisky together... But it's certainly not a joke! This is a Highwayman single malt whisky distilled and matured in Byron Bay, NSW, Australia, which was bottled as a share between Highwayman Whisky proprietor Dan Woolley, Japan-based whisky personality & consultant Armando Sandoval (@armandrinksss on Instagram), and Aloha Whisky Bar proprietor David Tsujimoto. Highwayman Tokyo Nights features Dan's trademark Grim Reaper theme on the labelling, but with unique artwork to mark this special occasion. Dan also travelled to Japan to launch the whisky at Aloha Whisky Bar - it's a tough life, hey Dan? Someone has to do it I suppose...
I've had the pleasure of visiting Aloha Whisky Bar a couple of times now, and it's an absolute must-do for any whisky fan visiting Tokyo. Aloha is located in Ikebukuro in north-western Tokyo, an easy walk from Ikebukuro Station on JR's 'Yamanote' train lines that loop around Tokyo's main districts. Owner & operator David Tsujimoto is from Hawaii and famously doesn't speak fluent Japanese, despite having run a popular bar in Tokyo for many years now! But he's an absolute gentleman and a true hospitality professional, and his knowledge of whisky, rum, and spirits in general, is beyond reproach. The extremely well stocked and organised back bar consists of mainly Scotch whisky, but also packs a huge variety of Japanese whiskies, American and Irish whiskeys, and a carefully selected range of quality rum and other spirits. I'm yet to meet Armando, but a few chats over Instagram and his general reputation in the whisky world has me regarding him highly, and having tasted his private bottling of Shizuoka Japanese single malt, I have no doubts about his taste in whisky! That Shizuoka was cleverly named "MexicaNOH" with artwork featuring the masks worn by the Luchadores in Mexican wrestling as a nod to the legendary 'Noh' series of Karuizawa bottlings which featured the masks worn by the actors (and latterly also actresses) in traditional Japanese theatre. The connection is deeper than that however, since one of the pot stills used at Shizuoka Distillery was originally used at Karuizawa Distillery which closed in 2000 and was demolished in 2016, and Armando's private cask was distilled on that still. Most importantly, it was a delicious whisky!
Highwayman of course needs no introduction here, and you'd struggle to find an Australian whisky fan who isn't aware of the stuff! But the international audience may be a different story, and it's been a couple of years since the last review regardless, so we're overdue for a refresher! Highwayman Single Malt Whisky is fermented and distilled on Dan's own equipment which (for licensing & practical reasons) is housed at the Restall family's Lord Byron Distillery in Byron Bay. Once distilled and filled into Dan's own casks, the spirit then travels a whopping 10-metres to Dan's Bond Store - Australian industry speak for maturation warehouse - and Cellar Door pictured above, aptly named Highwayman HQ. Since the spirit is entirely made literally next door Dan has full control over the production and maturation, while Lord Byron produces their high quality rum and other spirits on their own separate equipment. Highwayman's unpeated spirit is produced from NSW-grown malted barley, while the peated spirit is a combination of Scottish peated malted barley and the NSW-grown unmalted barley. More recently though Dan has been upping the percentage of the peated malt to create a heavily peated spirit, and having tried a couple of different cask samples so far - and begging him to bottle one straight away, which sadly fell on deaf ears! - they're quite special. When it comes to casks Dan comes into his element here, playing around with a multitude of different & unusual cask types like ex-stout, ex-rum, and ex-tequila, and different cask sizes ranging from 20-litres to 200-litres, with many of his whiskies going through multiple different cask types. In the heat and humidity of Byron Bay, those casks often don't need long to make their presence known!
As usual with Dan's whiskies, the details behind this 'Tokyo Nights' bottling are quite the mouthful! Highwayman Tokyo Nights is comprised of 2/3rds peated single malt that was initially matured in a first-fill fino sherry cask and finished in a second-fill apera (Australian sherry-style fortified wine) cask, and 1/3rd unpeated single malt that was fully matured in a second-fill bourbon cask fitted with virgin (new) American oak heads. Naturally it's bottled at Dan's standard strength of 55.0% ABV, and is non-chill filtered without added colouring. As mentioned above, half of the 240 x 500ml bottles went to Japan, and the other half remained in Australia for sale on the Highwayman website , where a small quantity are still available at $249 AUD.
Highwayman Tokyo Nights, NAS, 55.0%. Byron Bay, Australia.
Vatting of 1/3 unpeated single malt aged in second-fill ex-bourbon barrel with virgin American oak heads, and 2/3 peated spirit aged in first-fill Fino sherry cask and finished in second-fill Apera (Australian sherry-style fortified wine) cask.
Colour: Bronze.
Nose: Nutty, rich, sweet & savoury. Salted caramel, fizzy lemonade soft drink, salted peanut brittle, with a few salted brazil nuts & smoked almonds thrown in. Cola bottle lollies (not the sour kind), meat-y mushroom-y earthiness, toasted oak. Touches of ashy smoke & soy sauce around the edges.
Texture: Medium-heavy weight. Silky, rich, warming. Salty, not overly sweet, no spirit heat.
Taste: Big salty entry, with rich salted caramel and more salted nuts - peanut brittle, salted brazil nuts, and smoked almonds. Cola bottle lollies, soy sauce, and that meaty mushroom-y earthiness again. Buttery oak and oily furniture polish around the edges.
Finish: Medium length. Ashy peat smoke (especially on the exhale), more cola bottle lollies and soy sauce, then the salted nuts come back through with the savoury earthiness. Buttery oak around the edges.
Score: 4 out of 5.
Notes: Very tasty and nicely savoury, salty, rich whisky. Fans of salted caramel, peanut brittle, or cola bottle lollies, will love this one - and who isn't a fan of all of those? Highwayman whiskies are always rich, but in peated form - and particularly with fortified casks involved - they tend to have this earthy, mushroom-y, forest floor sort of savoury character which is very different to both the unpeated ex-bourbon casks and particularly the unpeated ex-fortified or wine casks, which can swing way over to the sweet side in comparison. That earthy mushroom-y savoury character helps balance out cask influence and add complexity, which when combined with the big saltiness and nuttiness in this 'Tokyo Nights' bottling, is delicious!
We need to see more peated Australian whisky spending time in ex-Fino sherry casks if you ask me, or maybe ex-Fino casks married with ex-bourbon casks. For that matter, we also need to see more peated Australian whisky in general!
Cheers!
