In the bottle: The alcohol on the nose is quite front and center at first before giving way to some very light, fruity sake notes; black licorice, peach, and mellon make a subtle appearance at the end, but lack the impact found in other Kasutori shochu. Overall, this is quite neutral beyond the initial punch, that is , unitil it breaths a little in the glass. After that the hit of the alcohol is gone, you are left with some brighter sake and rice notes which makes this even more pleasant to sip.

On the rocks: At 38% you really feel this on the tongue, and the back of the throat, not in a burning fire sort of way, but more of a cracked black pepper that lingers in the right kind of way. Hidden behind that black pepper are some really nice sake notes, most notably peach, nectarine, and mellon. There is also a bit of toasted rice if you roll it around, however, I did not find the licorice but there is a nice depth to this and the earthy notes from the 8 year storage really add some nice complexity. 

水割り Diluted with water

4:1, 3:2 ratio, This really opens up nicely with a little water, while the earthy/peppery notes still remain, they no longer smother the other lighter sake notes. This also drinks much nicer, the genshu is a bit on the thick side straight from the bottle, however, in these ratios, it really smooths out.