In the bottle: At first Maō is quite neutral; however, once you get a little oxygen into it, there are some beautifully fresh and floral notes that come peaking through which give it a clean and refined nose. These floral notes are backed by a subtle sweetness that just barely lets you know its there. It is clear from the beginning that a lot of love and care went into making this shochu, at least I hope so considering the price. 

On the rocks: Super smooth, with a fresh sweetness that is just so soft on the palate, and what comes next is even better. The sweet potato flavors really start to open up and shine after the first wave giving way to a wash of vanilla, cacao, and floral notes like lavender, honeysuckle and wild flowers which really strikes a delicate balance between sweet and sharp. In the end you walk away wanting another glass and appreciating the work that went into producing such an amazing shochu. Maō is not cheap but it does make for a nice special bottle to open to enjoy with other shochu lovers. 

Straight: The smoothness of Maō is amazing, neat in the glass there is nothing to hide; and left me walking away thinking that this might be one of the best bottles I have ever opened, at a minimum the best I have opened in a long time. Everything I found on the rocks is there, just much more intense and feels even more refined, from the the quality of the ingredients to the care taken to produce it, Maō checked very box.