In the bottle: Intense, concentrated Kasutori shochu, with notes of overripe cherries, lychee and brown sugar syrup. At 42%, there is a good tinge of alcohol if you nose it a little too much; however, overall it does not overwhelm, and you get some other typical sake notes at the tail end which give it a little more complexity. 

On the rocks: There is an explosion of different sake and rice shochu notes as this hits the palate and the back of the throat. Just after pouring this over ice, I find some mature licorice (if there is such a thing, maybe like Dutch licorice), which mixes with a the ethanol notes from the high alcohol content, leaving something that is both sharp and smooth at the same time. In many ways this reminds me of whiskey in the sense that it opens up the longer you roll it around on the tongue the more the subtle notes start to become present. 

水割り Diluted with water

4:1, 3:2 ratio: While I enjoy the intensity found on the rocks, this smooths out really well and opens up a lot of the softer notes that were saturated by the initial kick, reminds me of cherry brandy and creme soda (without the fizz).