In the bottle: A bit shart at the start; however, once this passes, Yaki Imo Kurose has a beautifully subtle sweet potato nose, and in this case, really subtle. What does finally take shape has nice freshness to it and is backed but just a hint of sweet and earthy tones. This has not been my experience in the past with roasted sweet potato shochu, as my memory was much sweeter, that being said, I'm very interested in what this does in the glass. 

On the rocks: The sharpness found on the nose stays around for the first sip, which comes across as more of a fresh mouth feel before fading into some really nice mature vanilla, sweet potato and slightly earthy notes. Once the ice melts, the sweetness really opens up and some additional cereal grain and toasted rice flavors start to rise to the surface and gives Yaki Imo Kurose a bit more character. Overall, there is nothing that stands out above the rest, and in this case that is perfectly fine, what you end up with is an incredibly drinkable roasted sweet potato shochu that at least at the time of writing this is perfect for a hot Japan summer night 

Straight: Super smooth with just the right bite, as the sharpness comes across really fresh and the deeper flavor notes of mature vanilla and just a hint of grain, overall this was quite nice but not as good as on the rocks, which could be due to the hot June night here in Hiroshima.

Paired with Chocolate: Tony's chocolonely 70% dark chocolate, right from the start this really shines, sometimes this pairing needs a bit to simmer down and unlock the cocoa from the chocolate, not with Yaki Imo Kurose, just pure chocolate all the way through. This may be one of the best pairings, there is not so much of a cherry liquor flavor in there and that is OK as the mature vanilla and sweet potato meld perfectly here, well worth a try.