Japanese Whisky
Japan did not have a commercial whisky distillery until 1923, when Shinjiro Torii opened Suntory outside of Kyoto. Suntory’s first distiller was Masataka Taketsuru, a Scotch whisky enthusiast and engineer who learned the art of whisky-making in Scotland. Japanese whisky is thus made in the Scotch style, with a focus on malted barley; expressions are bottled as both blends and single malts, with many distilleries today using traditional pot stills and importing peat and barley from Scotland. Despite its Scottish roots, Japanese whisky has increasingly distinguished itself in quality and style. Because the Japanese whisky industry is vertically integrated, blends are almost always created in-house from one producer’s stocks. The unique flavors of Japanese whisky are often attributed to long fermentation times and unique yeast strains, which are used to create a crystal clear wort prior to distillation. The turn of the century growth in the popularity of whisky, and in single malts in particular, has led to a global explosion in the demand for Japanese whisky.
Top Japanese Whisky Posts:
A Visit to Suntory’s Yamazaki Distillery
5 Whiskies from Japan’s Nikka Distillery
Kaiyo Japanese Mizunara Oak Whisky
Suntory Whisky Toki
Talking Toki with Suntory Master Blender Shinji Fukuyo
Glass is out. The new hotness: Ceramic decanters shaped like animals. Aiko Importers, best known for the World Whiskey Society releases, has launched a new line called the Wild Clay Collective, which “merges premium craftsmanship with creative designs.” Those creative designs get started with decanters shaped in the forms of Pelican, Flamingo, and Rainbow Trout. Flamingo…
The Hakushu is a whisky at ease in its own lightness, but ends up bearing a bit of weight via metaphors. It has been dragooned into service as a forest in a glass, a meditation, a mountain breeze from the Japanese Alps miraculously bottled and sold at luxury elite prices. However, what arrives is far…
Japan’s Fuji, well known for its single grain whisky collection, has made a rather natural expansion of late, moving into malted barley — a style for which Japan (and Scotland, of course) is much better known. The 100% Japanese malt whiskey is produced at Gotemba Distillery where it is distilled using a variety of still…
Anniversary editions can be risky propositions. They can arrive on the market with more pomp than substance: slap a nifty label on it, upcharge by a factor of three to five, laugh all the way to the shareholder steak and cigar dinner. True to Nikka form, this 40th anniversary release of Nikka Whisky from the…
Hatozaki‘s periodic “Omakase” releases continue with this fourth offering, the oldest age-stated release in the series to date. It’s a 15 year old single malt made at Kaikyo Distillery on the shore of the Seto Inland Sea, aged for 12 years in bourbon barrels and, like much of its lineup, finished in mizunara oak, this…
When Dave Broom published The Way of Whisky in 2017, the book wasn’t so much a seismic shift, but more like a pivot point in spirits writing. Before that, Japanese whisky was admired, sometimes fetishized in incredibly weird ways, but rarely presented with the seriousness English-language readers expect from Scotch or bourbon. Alongside Stefan Van…
Japan’s House of Suntory surprised everyone this year with a truly luxe offering: This Yamazaki Distillery offering is the oldest mizunara oak-aged whisky that the distillery has ever released. A full 25 years of time in Japanese oak is no small feat. If you don’t already know mizunara, Suntory offers a little back story on…
Japanese whisky isn’t easy to come by these days. As such, it’s always exciting to see a new brand hit the market, and here we have a new bottling, complete with kanji script on the label: Hatozaki. Hatozaki is made at Kaikyo Distillery (location: unknown), but it isn’t all distilled here, including both malt and…
At this point, we’re used to complicated back stories in the spirits world, but the tale of Kanosuke — a new whisky from Japan — is more complex than most, so hang with us. The company began in 2017 with the goal of distilling and maturing whisky in Kagoshima, the southern coast of Japan. Master…
Now in its 5th year, Jack Rose’s Premier Drams continues to be one of the standout whiskey events anywhere. WhiskyFest may have given up on our nation’s capital long ago, but Jack Rose owner Bill Thomas has proven that the city’s whiskey lovers will turn out if the right bottles are on offer. That means…