Woo Hoo! What an awesome, ye glorious year 2018 was for Japanese Whisky!
Sorry, my bad, that was 2010!
So, as 2018 comes to a close it’s time for the reality check.
It should really only take a few lines because as the title says, it was the year that wasn’t. Now we can throw at least couple of years prior tp 2018 in the same basket but as it has been pointed out by punters with boots on the ground, it seems that by and large, this was the worst year for them trying to access ‘interesting’ Japanese whisky. We’re not talking about the ridiculously priced auction stuff but what you can buy at retail liquor stores in Japan or abroad. If you haven’t been following you can read the many stories of frustration on the Buying Japanese Whisky in Japan 2018 report.
How bad is the drought? Well Suntory, a giant conglomerate and the biggest producer of whisky in Japan, is down to a single readily available age statement whisky, Yamazaki 12. They did however generously(sarcasm), delete two popular age statement whiskies Hakushu 12 and Hibiki 17 from their portfolio. They replaced for want of a better word, Hibiki 17 with Hibiki Blenders Choice but that so far was for Japan only. Have not tried it myself but readers have reported not as good as the 17 year old. They did not even release a limited edition this year like the Yamazaki LE of previous years.
Moving on to Nikka we still have a core range based on No Age Statement Whiskies. Then we had the Manzanilla Wood Finish Yoichi and Miyagikyo for Japan and the Sherry Wood and Bourbon Wood Finished Yoichi and Miyagikyo for Europe. Bourbon Wood Finish……how exotic! Sherry Wood Finished……previously any Yoichi or Miyagikyo I’ve tasted from sherry casks were fully matured in that cask type. Basically, not enough sherry cask whisky at Nikka so they can only afford to use some for finishing. All the limited releases were also without an age statement. In previous years, at least there were single cask releases of Yoichi and Miyagikyo even though they were tough to get if you weren’t in Japan.
As an aside, early next year I’m going to post my thoughts on Japanese No Age Statement Whiskies so please bear with me on that story.
Chichibu, I think in a number of markets it’s relatively easy to find the Blend, Mizunara and Wine Wood Finish and the Double Distilleries. Limited releases fly off the shelves in Japan or are already bought up on pre-order. We’ve all seen the second hand prices of Single Cask Chichibu and I’m sure no one even a couple of years thought we would live in a world of $1000+ 5-6 year distilled only in the last 10 years. No fault there from a distillery that currently only releases about 150,000 bottles a year. These guys cannot be expected to make up for the short fall of the ‘Big Two’ Suntory and Nikka.
Eigashima White Oak Distillery, tiny concern with limited production runs gave us maybe 8-10 age statement whiskies up to 10 years old, a number being single casks. Good for them and I mean that! It is one of the few positives about the halo effect of the current popularity of Japanese Whisky. The little guys can now confidently sell everything they produce and consequently are happy to continue to distill whisky. Pricing though if you are not in Japan and cannot buy these Akashi for retail price can be problematic as they are often being sold abroad often 3 times or more. It’s a hell of a lot of money for young whiskies!
Mars follows the Eigashima story quite closely as far as number of releases in 2018. At least in Australia though, Mars is more readily available. Our largest discount liquor store chain has at one stage or another throughout the 2018 sold 8 different Mars bottling’s consisting of their core range plus 5 limited releases. That number comes close to equaling the total number of offerings from the ‘Big Two’ sold by the same chain in 2018.
There were a number of new pot/new make spirits released primarily in Japan. Good news for the future but of no impact at all on the over all state of play in 2018.
If you are like me, you would have done internet searches for Japanese Whisky News throughout 2018. Really just a case of nothing to see here and the majority of news was about the Japanese Whisky drought and discontinued age statement bottling’s.
You don’t have to be Nostradamus to see a basic repeat of 2018 in 2019. If you are a fan of Japanese Whiskies I can only suggest to keep your wits about you and be ready to pounce on any new bottling’s released in 2019.
Down the track both Chichibu and Mars should offer a little more relief from the drought. Mars in 2020 when some true(whisky aged at least three years) starts being bottled from the Tsunuki Distillery. Chichibu a little later once the second distillery which will run concurrently with original distillery and be 5 times the size, bottles whisky in around 2023. The other new distilleries looking to release Japanese Whisky in 2020 should at least provide us with some variety if not a big boost in overall output.
The true turn around however will only start when the Big Two, Suntory and Nikka, start churning out significant numbers of age statement whiskies again. When that will be is anyone’s guess!
The Japanese Whisky Review
By Dramtastic Est 2012
Just a wee note on the Hibiki Blender’s Choice. The 12 yr old was always a go to favorite. Amazing that I used to pick it up for ¥3,700 yen at Kansai Airport! I’ve had quite a few bottles of the 17 yr old as well over the years. Recently I managed to snag 3 bottles of the Blenders Choice when it came out, which is available for around ¥14,000 currently online.
I’ve read it’s a mix of 12 and 15 yr old statements and that seems about right. It compares well to the 12 I used to love so much. Am sipping some as I write this, and can heartily recommend the Blender’s Choice, so long as you don’t mind paying the premium.
Hi, Brian. Slim pickings indeed. In 2018 I had a Yamazakura Asaka Distillery Newborn & a Komagatake 2018 Limited Edition sent over. The Asaka is 100% Japanese spirit, unlike Yamazakuras in the past & the back label has plenty of information, even including barley varieties. So they are making an effort.
The other interesting thing is a new book on Japanese whisky published by Tuttle. My brother sent me a copy for Christmas, so I’m just starting to read it.
Hopefully, we’ll start to see more interesting stuff in 2019. I don’t really want to pay 100 bucks in Australia for a bottle of Iwai Tradition
Hi Alan, Happy New Year and I believe I have the book your talking about(I bought a couple of different ones this year).
Fortunately you have a brother in Japan to assist. Hard to survive the drought unless you have a contact/s in Japan.
Kampai
Brian
Hi Brian, Hi Everyone!
Happy New Year to everyone!
Thank you for the great, but depressing, recap.
I’d like to leave 2018 with a few good memories of my finds Japanese Whisky from this year, so here we go. Interestingly enough, all of them happened on my last trip in November.
1) Finding a Miyagikyo Manzanilla Wood Finish in Osaka for SRP. Just walked into Big Liquor and there it was.
2) Finding a Ichiro’s Malt Kiyosato Field Ballet 28th Anniversary. Man that was expensive (guess it’s still SRP) but where else are you going to find it? Could of bought the 29th edition, too, but I’m not that well off.
3) Scoring a bottle of Ichiro’s Malt Whisky Talk limited edition 2018 for retail. Have to thank my friend for getting me that one.
Maybe someone else here wants to share their favorite scores for this year?
Again Happy New Year to everyone! Let’s hope we get more fortunate with Japanese whisky finds in 2019.
Happy New Year Jonathan!
Paying that much for one bottle(Ichiro’s Malt Kiyosato Field Ballet 28th Anniversary) is always a tough call but down the track it’s worth it to own a piece of Japanese Whisky History. At least you got it at SRP : )
Going along with your theme, Mars provided me with the most joy this year as far as purchases. A couple of oldies and a number of newbies including 2 of the Le Papillons(prices are now already many times more that SRP) and another 2015 from The Tokyo International Bar Show ! Just wish Mars would give us some older whiskies from ‘The Revival’ instead of bottling most at 3-4 years. The Revival bottling was released in 2011 which meant distilling restarted in 2008 so there should be 10 year old single malts by now. I understand the economics when you can sell out young whiskies easily, but would be nice to offer some older whiskies from the new era for the enthusiasts.
Chichibu was a little tougher but have purchased the 2018 Peated, another 2015 from The Tokyo International Bar Show, another 2015 On The Way, 2 Bottles of the Blend for Claude Whisky 10th Anniversary which includes some 1982 Kawasaki in the mix, and scored with the WWA winning Blend(Hanyu/Kawasaki/Chichibu), at SRP for the club.
The 10YO Single Sherry Cask Akashi was another nice score and good on Eigashima for not bottling it at a younger age.
A half bottle of Hibki 21 for Y20,000 at my hotel bar in Tokyo and a mate gave me a bottle of Hibiki 17!
Kampai
Brian
Thanks for your summary of 2018, Brian, I always enjoy reading your posts. I am in Japan at the moment to spend Christmas and New Year’s with the in-laws and so far I did not like what I saw here when it comes to Japanese whisky. If you knew me better you would know that I am of a cheerful nature however it depresses me what I get to see here. I have checked out some liquor stores and other shops in the Kansai area and so far have not come across any age statement Yamazaki, Hakushu, let alone Miyagikyo/Yoichi whiskies. There are quite some Mars and Chichibu bottlings and while they are lovely in their own right I would not call them exciting from the perspective of a malt maniac. Jesus, yesterday I for the first time since I came here saw the 180ml bottle of the NAS Hakushu in a convenience store! Usually now the whisky selection there consists of the Suntory blends, the Chita, Black Nikka, Tory’s, you name it… Even at my favourite whisky bar in Kobe they only had the Yamazaki 12yo next to Mars and Chichibu bottlings (some of them private). I look forward to enjoying lovely Scotch whiskies for some time to come. Cheers to that!
Thanks Pierre and Happy New Year! Your a Doyen of the Japanese Whisky Scene so your experience counts!
I personally buy more Scottish Whisky these days than Japanese due to cost and availability but I can’t say Scottish Whisky is a passion the way Japanese Whisky is for me. The majority is Scottish Blends to make Highballs with but I also buy some single malts.
Point of fact is I’m also quite egalitarian when it comes to whisky, am interested in all ‘World Whiskies’ and will happily try any of them when the opportunity arises.
I’m lucky to have a Japanese Whisky Club here that can share the cost of bottles, which is a huge benefit when some can cost over a grand!
I also have many older/rare bottles/samples of Japanese Whisky that I collected from the start that I can have a wee dram of when the mood arises. I would say that in 2019 I will purchase somewhere in the region of 15 to 20 bottles Japanese Whisky. Will be a combination of new stuff and older stuff. A hell of a long way from when I might have bought 70 or 80 in a year!
Kampai
Brian
Always a good read. I would have to disagree with the point of YAMAZAKI 12 been semi available. Here in Osaka I have not seen one for the whole of 2018.. unless you visit recycle shops or overpriced sellers. But even then I don’t see it. My best finds in 2018 where Mars Komagatake 27 year and a KIRIN 2004 which has little written about and has only 211 bottles I believe.
I’m getting into a little of Ichiros now slowly and surely and with a blenders choice on route to me in 2019. Keep trying scotch but doesn’t seem to rock my world yet. Haha.
It’s all down to personal experience and all opinions/experiences add to the debate : ).
Yamazaki 12 has been available at various during 2018 in Australia and we are a whisky outpost so from my perspective, that shows they have stock and have offered it as an age statement option this year. It is entirely possible that Suntory prioritized overseas markets for this bottling in 2018.
I can also add that a member of my Japanese Whisky Club spotted Yamazaki 18YO for sale only a few days ago at Sydney Airport Duty Free. Suntory for mine is in a little better position stock wise than Nikka despite dropping Hakushu 12 and Hibiki 17.
Congrats on your scores!