Nine Leaves ex-Russian Virgin Oak Small Batch 2017: from the extraordinary Unsun Karuta collectionThis Nine Leaves is part of an exceptional series from the distillery founded in 2013 by Yoshiharu Takeuchi in the Japanese city of Otsu.In Nine Leaves, Yoshiharu did everything himself, from moving barrels to bottling; then, at the end of 2023, he decided to close the distillery. A few months later, the entire stock of aging rums and the last batch of white rums were purchased by La Maison & Velier, who will carry on an extraordinary evolving legacy. The raw material that makes up Nine Leaves rums is also exceptional : pure water from an underground spring and Kokuto Sugar from the Okinawa archipelago. Fermentation lasts about four days, while distillation takes place in two Forsyth's Scottish pot stills: the first inspired by Chichibu and the second in Glenmorangie style, with a great balance that enhances the aromatic complexity. Once distilled, the rums are aged in different types of barrels, in two different places: a warehouse subjected to significant temperature fluctuations or an abandoned mine, with high humidity and very low temperatures. This rum, distilled in 2017 and left to mature in a Mizunara virgin Russian oak barrel, it is one of the first five bottlings selected by La Maison & Velier, whose labels are inspired by a traditional card game: Unsun Karuta.

70 Cl

58% Vol.