Shinshu Mars Komagatake 2012 Single Cask 1555 Aging (Bottled 2016) American Oak Puncheon w/box 700ml

From internet:
Nose: Cinnamon sprinkled on oranges with a malty, leathery peat. Spices and wet moss
Palate: Bitter chocolate and licorice, with a wonderful vanilla maltiness
Finish: Lasting oak with light smoke alongside dark chocolate and butterscotch

Located between Japan’s soaring Southern Alps and the towering Central Alps, at just over 2,600 feet, Mars Shinshu is Japan’s highest whisky distillery. The Hombo family have been distilling for more than a century and added whisky to their repertoire in 1949. At that time the distillery was located in the Tsunuki region of Kagoshima Prefecture on the southern-most island of Kyushu.
Until 1984, it was the southernmost whisky made in Japan, which ended when the Hombo clan moved the distillery to the idyllic alpine setting of Miyada village in southern Nagano Prefecture, Central Japan. They chose this site for its cool temperature, which slowed maturation, and the plentiful soft granite filtered snowmelt fed aquifers. A beautiful choice.