Interesting, but flawed by prickly heat. Not as enjoyable as the 2011 edition, not by a long shot. Another example on the the long list of failed "second" editions, so much so that they dropped the Valinch series altogether. I wouldn't bother with either of the releases, to be honest, but this version in particular es no bueno.
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Passable nose. Mostly nondescript but notes of banana cream, vanilla, and apple juice and intermittently identifiable, along with generic sweet notes and stale barley sugar.
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Herein lies the problem: Heat. It's too hot, but you can't add water because it falls apart. Prickly. There is something like sweet rice (?) at times, and tangy litsea, though don't ask me why as I have never tasted litsea.
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Surprisingly, the finish is the "best" part. It's still not great, but fairly long and fairly interesting. Brewed black tea, some bitterness, oddly a note of sake... Latterly, there is a sweeter side that comes back, with peach cream, candy, gummy bears, and chocolate. Strange!
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