In the bottle: At first you get a decent burst of fresh sweet potato that feels a bit young before switching gears to a much more floral lavender. Sadly, the best I can come up is that Rakkoku Shinshu comes across a bit like cheap perfume and while that sounds bad, it is more about the flavors not being fully developed more than anything. Swirling this around a bit to get some oxygen in gives this a bit more sweetness that helps to temper the other flavors a bit. 

On the rocks: A bit to hard to describe, the floral aspects really dominate but they are balanced with the sweetness of the potato to give this an almost candy or very subtle bubblegum flavor. The finish here gets a bit grainy with some toasted oats, vanilla and a bit of bitter cocoa. Overall Rakkoku Shinshu is not bad, maybe not the best bottle I have picked up but certainly been an interesting ride. 

Straight: Very interesting, there is a slight spicy quality, not spicy hot, but more like cinnamon with a side of lavender and some other wildflowers, overall very floral. Additionally, there is a subtle sweetness that weaves in and out, it never becomes too strong but it is certainly there with some soft vanilla there for good measure. Regarding the floral notes, these really stick around on the finish which is quite enjoyable, the vanilla also shows up here and there.