How: Bottle.
Where: SBWF 2017.
Appearance: Amber colour with no head.
Aroma: Rice, fruit, some spices.
Body: Medium body, flat carbonation.
Flavour: Rice, fruit, some alcohol, spices.

Bottle sampled during the premium sake pairing at Sushi Nakazawa with Linh. Pours a whiskey-colored golden body with thick legs. Aroma is light toffee. Mouthfeel is medium to full-bodied (as far as my experience with sakes goes..) with notes of melted caramel candies, toffee, sugar and earthy wood. Wow, almost like the angel share of sakes.

Bottle from Sakaya, 1997 vintage as in the picture, 10/19/2014. Pours like a bourbon, caramel color with golden/copper highlights Aroma is slightly musty, caramelized fruit notes, nutty, lots of wood, spicy cedar, aged rice character as in some shochus, sweet pear notes coming through as it warms. Taste is nutty, mild chocolate and plum, fruitcake like sweetness, rice character supporting long cedar finish. Medium, oily body. Really interesting, worth a try.

Yippee final sake style!! Pours an odd copper color not particularly inviting. Nose of spicy cedar. Tastes of woody cedar, pears, tobacco, hint of lemon rine, oolong tea, and amaretto. Slightly oily palate with spicy finish. What an odd drink but I dig it. Also 1997 vintage is that only year this was made?

bottle at Sushi Den, Denver. labeled "Koten ’Pot Heaven’ Jizake (+2) Tokubetsu Junmai Ymagata, Japan." fruit cocktail / pear heavy nose with distinct sharp lemon oil and noticeable alcohol. oily, waxy texture; medium-light body; mostly sweet; medium acid. pine needles / spruce phenols show up at times. overall has a good play of flavors and acid, but like most sake it doesn’t do much for me.

Koten 1997 at Hana no Sake, London. Deep golden colour. Sharp fruit cake aroma. Rich chocolate and fruit flavours, yet dry finish. Great balance, enough dry yeastiness to offset the sweet chocolatey plum pudding. The perfect companion to a heavy English dessert.

Scotch-like both in color and flavor (cedar casks). Only it’s just 15%. Fairly dry. Not my thing, but an aged koshu sake isn’t for everyone.

(sample from irishboy)cedar and fruity with a hint of hairspray.dark yellow in appearance.thats all folks.

My twelfth Sake style; a big thanks to mwsf for telling me where I could get it! (True Sake, SF, CA) Vintage 1997; nose of woodiness, pine nuts, and a ricy pastiness; translucent, crystalline, dark gold in color; flavor is more complex than any other sake I have tried; a nutty smokiness, cedar (which it was aged in), and an old flavor, obviously from the cedar cask aging. The finish is a light alcohol warmth!

500mL Bottle - 1997 (Aged 8 years): My first Koshu! A deep chestnut bourbon color, light copper on the edges. Moderate sticky legs. The nose is nutty with notes of aged pine, soy flour, smoked peanuts and faded earthy koji. Very complex and lightly fruity in the nose, keeps you coming back for more. Flavor is lightly sweet with a caramel, malt, tobacco and old leather initial mouthfeel. Nearly no alcohol burn but you can certainly feel the activity deep down. A bit snappy with the acidity on the palate that keeps it exciting and not too dusty and dreary. The tail is again nutty with light dried fruit. For all the body and complexities in this, the overall drinkability is clean and sublime. Now I’d like to try the real deal. Good work 天覧山.