In the bottle: Right from the start you are treated to a beautifully rich sweet potato nose that has some interesting woody notes, overall it really reminds me of birch trees, even a bit like birch beer (not sure if that was available outside of the North East). After swirling it around a little, there are some earthy notes that start to come forward along with a little bit of dried fruits. Amazingly the 38-39& alcohol is nowhere to be found and this 2015 (2nd bottle opened on January 12th 2025) comes across as fresh and inviting.

On the rocks: Thick, rich and absolutely wonderful. Similar to the nose, you hit with a big sweet potato that really reminds me of roasted sweet potatoes straight off the coals; ?Naina 2015 genshu is sweet in just the right way. Once you get past the sweeter, potato, vanilla and custard notes, the finish pulls in some interesting floral flavors; mostly lavender and honeysuckle as well as some less defined wild flower. The finish here is also quite exceptional, the higher alcohol really does a great job of bringing the softer, less defined sweet flavors through to the end, overall, just delicious.    

Straight: Similar to on-the-rocks, this is thick and rich, not as thick as I was expecting but certainly on the thick side. ?Naina 2015 genshu is interestingly herby, almost reminds me of drinking schnapps back when I lived in Germany, this probably comes from the floral notes that are much stronger when enjoy straight, you can definitely feel this on the finish as the lavender opens up and is carried well by the high alcohol. Overall, neat in the glass is pretty good, and something I have been enjoying a lot more these days.