Hey friends,
Welcome to Episode 6 of 6 Days of Suntory Hibiki. In my latest YouTube Video here, I chat about my experience with Suntory Hibiki 30 Year Old and see whether it’s worth the unbelievable prices being asked and then I rank all the Hibiki’s I’ve tasted in order of my personal preference. Let me know if you agree and what is your favourite Suntory Hibiki in the comments?
Kampai
Brian
Hi friends,
Welcome to Episode 5 of 6 Days of Suntory! You can check out my latest YouTube video here where I chat about and review Suntory Hibiki 21 Year Old. Is it the pinnacle of age statement Hibiki’s even compared to the 30 year old and one of the best blended whiskies ever? Let me know what you think in the comments.
Kampai
Brian
G’day everyone,
Welcome to Episode.3 of 6 Days of Suntory Hibiki. You can check out my latest YouTube video here where I discuss Hibiki 12 Year Old and give my tasting notes and rating. I know this one is very popular amongst many enthusiasts so chuck a comment in the comments section and let me know what you think of Hibiki 12.
Kampai
Brian
Hey friends,
Welcome to Episode.2 of 6 Days of Suntory Hibiki.
You can check out my latest YouTube video here. Today I discuss the Hibiki Japanese Harmony Masters Select. I’ve owned around 8 bottles of this over the years. Have you tried it? Let me know what you think of it in the comments section.
Kampai and have a great day!
Brian
Hey peeps,
Welcome to Episode.1 of 6 Days of Suntory Hibiki.
You can watch my latest YouTube Video here. Some background and tasting notes for Hibiki Japanese Harmony. A whisky I hated when first tasted! This is what I think of it now!
Let me know what you think of this in the comments section of the video.
Kampai
Brian
Hey friends,
Click here to check out a quick preview video of what coming up on the Japanese Whisky Review YouTube Channel.
Please don’t forget to click the Like, Subscribe and Notification buttons if you haven’t already : )
Kampai
Brian aka Dramtastic
Nose: Light. Vanilla, strawberry stalks, fresh rhubarb, bread dough, hint of dusty oak.
Palate: Cinnamon, strawberry conserve, rhubarb, raspberries, vanilla. Light black tea, oak. Light bodied.
Finish: Vanilla cream. cinnamon, touch of chocolate and oak. Short length.
Last Word: Really mellow and fairly bland. Far prefer the ‘regular’ 10 and 12 year old bottlings.
Rating: 76/100
Nose: Bready notes of Rye and Pumpernickel. Plums, vanilla, cracked pepper, flint, mixed herbs. Butter, custard, peanut brittle. With water mint leaves.
Palate: Butter, chicken vindaloo, rye spice, pickled ginger, pepper, vanilla bean. Peanut butter, cloves, banana bread. Full bodied.
Finish: Banana, mixed herbs, peppermint jellies, peppermint tea, licorice. Complex and evolving.
Last Word: Quite a unique experience and an enjoyable one to boot, especially for someone like myself who enjoys Rye Whiskies.
Rating: 90/100
A newcomer to the Tokyo Whisky Bar scene, Aloha Whisky Bar in Ikebukuro opened it’s doors in September 2019.
The bar is owned and operated by the affable Mr David Tsujimoto, a native of Hawaii of Japanese decent. David has lived in Tokyo for the last 6 years and in that time has collected an extremely impressive range of whiskies. Around 600 bottlings in total and if that is not enough to wet your appetite, about 250 of these are Japanese Whiskies. That number of Japanese Whiskies propels Aloha Whisky Bar straight into the Major Leagues!
The majority of the other whiskies on offer are Scottish or Bourbons but there is also whisky from Canada, Ireland, Taiwan, Hawaii, Australia, Switzerland and China.
Other alcoholic beverages include Beer, Red and White Wine, Gin, and Cognac. David also has a passion for rums so if your interested in rums, ask David for a recommedation of one of the rums at the bar. We did and it was a suberb fruit bomb!
Starting prices for half shots of no age statement Japanese Single Malt Whiskies is Y500 and Single Cask Japanese Whiskies from the likes of Chichibu Y1500.
If you are new to whisky David offers a number of tasting flights from both Scotland and Japan. A tasting flight was the starting point for my own Japanese Whisky odyssey over 10 years ago.
As David is always on the lookout for new whisky expressions, you would be certain of an exciting experience even after multiple visits to Aloha Whisky Bar.
Aloha Whisky Bar is also a non smoking venue, a boon for anyone who actually wants to nose and taste whisky not just cigarette smoke all night. The bar seats around 10-12.
The bar is currently open every day except Tuesdays from 6PM-11:30PM. I always recommend before going to any bar that you check out their Facebook page for any updates to opening hours. Directions to the bar if arriving by train are pretty straight forward. Exit C3 of the Fukutoshin(F) area of Ikebukuro Station. If you can’t find C3 ask any station staff. When you exit C3 at street level the bar is directly across the road a few meters to the left. It is on level 3 accessed by a small elevator. Picture below includes the sign for Aloha Whisky Bar.
I cannot recommend Aloha Whisky Bar highly enough and it will be one of my regulars whenever I am in Tokyo.
So Suntory is expanding it’s facility at the Omi Aging Cellar in Shiga Prefecture so that it will be able to hold approximately an extra 40,000 barrels.
56 mil to only add storage for 40,000 barrels to Suntory’s current capacity of 1.52 million barrels.
Wow, did anyone crunch those numbers? 1400 hundred bucks worth of space for each barrel. If only we all had the readies to for such an indulgence!
Yes Suntory has aleady had 2 x expansions since the Japanese Whisky drought but 40,000 barrels ain’t going to help when I assume a lot of that juice will only go into blends such as Kakabin.
You all know the basic story! Japanese Whisky is in the duldrums in the early 2000’s or a bit earlier. The big two Japanese Whisky producers Suntory and Nikka(parent Asahi), ramp down production. After all, the big two do not survive on whisky alone so there is a safety net. Japanese Whisky from virtually out of nowhere gains traction in the West in around 2009 followed in the East a few years later. This actually parallel’s the international explosion of whisky(ey) as a beverage of choice worldwide. Think new money/burgeoning economies, India, China, South East Asia.
The gushing of some influential whisky bloggers(certainly not me), better accessabilty outside of Japan and a host of international awards and Japanese Whisky is the darling of the whisky/key scene. From zero to hero and all of a sudden demand far exceeds supply! Stock shortage enshews followed by panic stations! Age statement after age statement bottling’s are dropped from the lineups, replaced by no age statement versions.
I’ll fast forward through the time line of each no age statement replacements and focus on some ‘spin’ from the distilleries.
This is the stuff I have read in articles and a couple recent books on Japanese Whisky. Whisky writer interviews Master Distiller. Master Distiller says if we do not have the ‘restrictions’ of an age statement, we have a larger canvas to paint with. Example, if the bottle is no age statement we can blend any whisky from 3 years old and up where before, if we had a 12 year age statement, we can only use 12 year old whisky and up. Fundamently I have no problem with the theory if……the no age statement bottling’s are as good as the age statment whiskie’s they have replaced and the cost is commensurate(if the average age is less).
Herien lies my issue. Almost without exception, the no age statment bottling’s are not as good as the age statement bottling’s they have replaced and on like for like pricing when the age statement bottling’s were standard, the age statement bottling’s were cheaper.
Some examples in Aussie dollars –
Hibiki Harmony NAS ave price $AUD150 – not sure what they are going for in Japan. Last tasted yesterday, my own 2019 bottle.
Hibiki 17YO when a standard bottling $AUD135 – Y10,000 in Japan. Hibiki 21 Y20,000
There have been improvements since the first NAS bottling’s were released but the NAS is still only 70% as good a whisky as the 17YO.
Yoichi NAS – $AUD125
Owned and opened 3 bottles and closer now to the Yoichi 10 but double or more the price of the Yoichi 10 when available. Last tasted July 2019, my own 2019 bottle.
Yoichi 10 when a standard bottling Y4500. Yoichi 12 Y6500. Yoichi 15 Y10,000. Yoichi 20 Y20,000.
Miyagiyo NAS – Ave price $AUD135. I’ve owned and opened a couple of bottles and tasted a 2019 and not a patch on the age statements. 2019 bottling tasted at WhiskyLive July 2019. Have my own(older) open bottle as well.
Age statements were the same price structure as Yoichi minus a 20YO which was never offered
Yamazaki NAS – In style it is pure Yamazaki and cracked a newly arrived bottle today. $AUD125.
12 year old is now $AUD250. NAS I’d say is better than half the price of the 12(these days’s) but again, 20% not as good when the 12 was at 75 bucks. Yamazaki 10 when a standard bottling Y5000, Yamazaki 12 Y7000, Yamazaki 18 Y20,000
Hakushu NAS – A big disappointment – Owned and drunk a few bottle’s and not a patch on the 12YO. Yes, there are the clean forest notes of the 12 but what happened to the peat and pepper? This was Japans Talisker 10 before it was emancipated. Last tasted June 2019, my own 2018 bottle.
Age statements were the same price structure as Yamazaki.
Nikka Taketusru NAS – This is the biggest improver for me. Latest bottling’s seems to have a bigger/older Sherry Cask influence. Still, AUD$125 for the NAS when back in the day even the 21YO was about 100 bucks!!!! Despite all that, along with Nikka FTB this is my current Nikka of choice! Last tasted a week ago, my own 2019 bottle.
Taketsuru 12 when a standard bottling Y2500, Taketsuru 17 Y7000, Taketsuru 21 Y10,000
So there we have it, age statement Japanese Whiskies swapped out for no age statement whiskies and in almost every case, the no age statement versions are inferior and yet cost more.
Knowing what we know, the big two Japanese Whisky producers currently have no choice but to release no age statement whiskies. I can cop that but prices should be commensurate with having a lot of younger whiskies in the mix and the no age statement offering’s not being on par with even the youngest age statement offerings’s. If I was to put an empertical value on the no age statement bottling’s, they should be priced 30% less than the old age statment bottling’s!
So what does it take for the average self funded Japanese Whisky Aficionado to reach 500 Japanese Whiskies tasted? 10 years, being in the right place at the right time, spending time on the ground in Japan making contacts, unwavering enthusiasm and a whole lot of hard earned cash!
How hard was it? That is a story of 2 parts. The “Glory” days between May 2009 (the first time I visited Japan) and roughly 2014 and the leaner times after that of rocketing prices and limited availability.
Getting to 100 was relatively easy. 200 wasn’t that hard either. From memory even 300 wasn’t too bad. Beyond that it felt like hitting a brick wall and if your’e like me and just an average middle class Joe, you already know the reasons why. I won’t rehash here recent Japanese Whisky history and why prices are so high and stock levels/variety so limited, there are enough stories on the net using a simple Google search.
The majority of Japanese Whiskies I’ve tasted have been drinkable at the very least all the way up to stellar. There have been some total duds of coarse which is to be expected.
Favorite distillery style is from Yoichi and I admire Yamazaki and Chichibu for innovation and at least when you can get them, variety. Most often imbibed daily dram is Nikka From the Barrel.
Most underrated distillery in Miyagikyo and most overrated is Karuizawa. I’ve tasted about the same amount of bottling’s from Mars Whisky as I have Karuizawa and overall I’d choose Mars any day. I’ll throw in a number of Hanyu Card series as overrated at least for the price they command these days.
For those wondering if there will ever be a return to the “Glory” days of cheap prices, easy access and lots of variety I’m going to have to be the bearer of bad tiding’s. As long as supply exceeds demand no way! Not only that, even when the big players Suntory and Nikka bring a variety of age statement whiskies back on line they have repeatedly said they see their products as premium. This means they will continue to charge commensurate premium prices compared to say, Scottish whiskies of the same age and availability. I do look forward however to the 3 year old bottling’s that will be released in 2020 from the newer distilleries such as Akkeshi, Shizuoka, Kanosuke and Mars Tsunuki. 2020 will also be banner year for Chichibu who will release their first official 10 year old whisky.
Finally I’ll list 25 Japanese Whiskies that aren’t daily drams that I would always love to have a stash of. These are whiskies that left an immediate impression and haven’t failed since.
Hibiki 21
The Hakushu SM Aged 15 Years 500ml 56%
The Hakushu Single Malt Sherry Cask #9O 50021 1989 TWE 62%
Suntory Owners Cask Hakushu 2000-2011 #EL 41914 Smoky & Bitter 57%
Suntory Owners Cask Bar Hermit Private Stock Yamazaki 1996 Sherry Butt 13YO #AX70004 60%
The Cask of Yamazaki 1993 Heavily Peated #3Q70047 62%
Suntory Blended Whisky For The Peninsula Tokyo 2014 43% Sherry Casks of Yamazaki, Hakushu, Chita
Miyagikyo Single Cask 1996 16YO Sherry Cask 60% #118913
Taketsuru Pure Malt 35YO
Yoichi Single Cask 1994 18YO #400749 Warehouse 25 62%
Yoichi Single Cask 1988-2013 23YO Warehouse 25 #100212 62%
Yoichi Peaty and Salty 1989 12YO Single Cask #251224 63.3%abv
Yoichi 20
Karuizawa 1992 #6978 62.8%
Mars Moltage 3 and 25 28YO 46%
Mars Malt Gallery 1985 23YO #324 American White Oak 58%
Mars Komagatake Single Cask Vintage 1989 23YO 63.5% Cognac Limousin Cask #1060
Mars Komagatake 27 years old Sherry Casks / American White Oak Cask 46%
Kawasaki Single Grain Sherry Butt 1982 28YO # 7414 65.5%
Chichibu Mizunara Puncheon Cask # 89 2008-2017 58.2%
Ichiro’s Malt 8 of Clubs 1988 23YO #7100 57.5
Ichiro’s Malt The Game 2000 9YO 61.2%
Ichiro’s Malt SC for Takashimaya 1991 18YO 46.5%
The Single Malt Chichibu Golden Horse 12-year-old, Bottle # 0263 2008 56%
Ichiro’s Malt and Grain Kiyosato Field Ballet 26th Anniversary Bottling 48%abv
Nose: Oaky, earthy and fruity. Reminds me somewhat of Hanyu earthiness, the earth in orchards of stone fruits. Very expressive for a 43%abv whisky. Licorice allsorts, vanilla and demerara rum, white peaches and a mix of cantaloupe and honeydew melons. Slightly burnt brown sugar, dried papaya and apricots. Some leather and sweet tobacco. Take some time and little by little, more and more is revealed. Some gingerbread spices, raisins, overripe bananas, pineapple and oranges. I’d call it a plush nose!
Palate: Cognac like fruitiness, oily/buttery mouth feel. Bourbonesque orange, vanilla custard, brandy snaps, dried mango slices, lemon, grapefruit, sherry, the gingerbread spices. Demerara rum, strawberries soaked in champagne, eucalyptus. The gingerbread spices make this pop on the palate more than you would expect at ‘only’ 43%abv.
Finish: Turkish bread dipped in olive oil, orange soaked brandy snaps. Becomes drier on leather, tobacco and mature oak then drifts towards hints of coal fire, earthy peat, dried mango and grapefruit bitterness.
Last Word: A very classy dram showcasing the Blenders art!
Rating: 91/100 trending towards 92
*Note: Core components for this whisky are Mizunara Casks of at least 25 years old, Spanish Oak Sherry Casks, long aged Suntory Chita Grain Whisky.
The 2018 report was once again the most viewed post on the Japanese Whisky Review. Not surprising that given the Japanese Whisky drought, even more folks are keen to know where and when stuff is available. Comments were up by almost 200 on the 2017 report with 631 vs 433. A big shout out to all those who commented, especially the regulars!
I think we all know 2019 will be at least as tough buying Japanese Whisky in Japan as 2018 but every contribution counts so please keep the comments coming this year. I know from personal experience I was able to grab a number of bottles in 2018 that I would have missed out on if readers hadn’t advised of pending releases!
Kampai
Brian AKA Dramtastic
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!
After our tour of Chichibu Distillery had completed I asked if our tour guide Soma could recommend a good whisky bar in Chichibu town. He recommended Bar Te – Airigh and what an awesome recommendation it was. Now Soma called the bar Bar Cherry, as did Chichibu Brand Ambassador Yumi. I tried a google search that would translate Bar Te – Airigh to Bar Cherry but I could not find one.
Walking through the door into this awesome whisky cave felt immediately like home. Fantastic laid back vibe and friendly English speaking owner Takeshi Yokota. Bottles total around 600 of all types of whisky and about 150 of those are Japanese. Now 150 bottles of Japanese Whisky is tantalizing enough, but what makes Bar Cherry stand out from the crowd is probably the best selection of Chichibu Whisky available. Roughly half the bottles of Japanese Whisky are Chichibu, with so many being limited releases including the bars own bottling.
I also found the bar great value and there is no seating charge. I had full shots of 2 Single Cask Chichibu, 1 being from a sample bottle of Chichibu that will be a bar exclusive released in a few months. Also 1 Miyagikyo Limited Release and Scotch Malt Whisky Society 119.14 Yamazaki and Scotch Malt Whisky Society 120.7 Hakushu both from Spanish Oak Bota Corta casks. My girlfriend had 3 JD mixers and we both had ham and cheese toasties and 1 x homemade baked cheese cake. Total price was about AUD$195 or US$145. If you know the prices of full bottles of the ones I tasted you will know why I think this was great value.
Takeshi san also graciously lined up the 6 2018 New Pot from the Shizuoka Distillery for me to try gratis.
It takes around 70 minutes by Limited Express train to reach Chichibu from Ikebukuro Station Tokyo and the last 30 minutes or so winds its way through some lovely Japanese country side. As we did not know what time we would return from Chichibu we bought 1 way tickets in each direction. Total cost for the train tickets was about US$22 per person. All seats on the Limited Express trains are reserved so allow yourself enough time at Ikebukuro station to purchase these. There is a Limited Express office about 20 meters from the platform that the Chichibu LE train leaves from.
Bar Cherry is about a 15 minute walk or a few minutes by taxi from Chichibu Station. The address is 8-4 Daiichi-Isida Bld, Miyakawacho, Chichibu-shi Saitama 386-0046 Japan. Ph: 0494-24-8833.
Bar opens at 5PM and the last Limited Express back from Tokyo leave at around 10.25PM from memory. Takeshi san can advise of train times. We went on a Monday. Please check with the bar prior to visiting that they will be open on that day. You can send a message via the Facebook page.
I don’t pay a lot of attention to the non Japanese Whiskies as I focus on stuff relevant to Japanese Whisky Blog, but you can get an idea of other Whiskies by checking out the Facebook page or the bars blog.
I cannot recommend Bar Te – Airigh(Bar Cherry) highly enough and it is now my favorite Whisky Bar!
Visited on a Saturday night at around 9PM. For a well stocked whisky bar strangely quite. This may have to do with the fact that it is not inside a major Tokyo hub such as Shinjuku, Shibuya, Ginza or Roppongi. From Shinjuku station it’s about a 12-15 minute taxi ride. From about 10PM to 1.30am it was just myself and another guy I met there. Good thing is that if you are in a bar like this it’s easy to meet and chat with people about whisky because no one is there by accident.
Of course I was here for Japanese Whisky like most of the bars visited on this trip. Through a Facebook message I was advised by the bar they had approximately 300 whiskies. Seemed like more. Mostly Scottish Whiskies but I would say a more than decent selection of Japanese Whiskies. Whether you are new to Japanese whisky or a veteran, there should be enough options to satisfy. As many readers would know if you are in Japan and show enthusiasm about anything to the locals they get right on board. So what you may initially see at the bar isn’t necessarily all they have. I started with a Single Cask Chichibu then a Suntory’s Owners Cask Single Cask Yamazaki from a Sherry Butt. Once I’d talked about my passion for Japanese Whisky with the bar staff all of a sudden out comes another four Owner’s Casks that were not initially on view. 
Then a couple of rare Hanyu appeared. As the Owners Casks were different styles you could probably just go for those and walk away happy. Apart from the Sherry Butt I tried a very tasty Owner’s Cask Heavily Peated Yamazaki. A budget of roughly Y10,000 will get you 3 Single Cask Japanese whiskies to try. Of course can spend more. I asked the price of one of the Hanyu in the picture below furthest to the right and it was Y6,800. 
If that’s not in the budget for a full shot and your are keen, then ask for a half shot. Definitely a recommended bar for Japanese Whisky.
Nose: Stone fruits of peaches, plums and apricots. Toffee, oak, wood spice. Banana Flambeau and a corn note I’d associate with a blended whisky. Water brings out orange juice.
Palate: Ginger, nutmeg, pepper, oak, banana, creamed corn, cashews. Arnott’s Savory Shapes Biscuits, orange juice. The spices are quite prominent and make this quite punchy at ‘only’ 43%abv. Water introduces some Fruit Tingles Sweetness.
Finish: Banana’s, butter, cashews, mint, BBQ hotplate, orange juice.
Last Word: Not the last word in complexity/boldness but I am sure that was deliberate. There is enough going on with the punchy spices and nicely balanced with a little water added.
Rating: 85/100
A title such as the one for this post could at first glance look like click bait. Bit dramatic isn’t it!
I’m going to tell you a story that is only a decade old and one that I believe backs up the title.
Firstly, what has prompted the post? It is the current online Japanese Whisky news doing the rounds about Suntory discontinuing both Hakushu 12 Year Old Single Malt and The Hibiki 17 Year Old Blend in the second half of this year. Some may have even read that here at the Japanese Whisky Review as we have a number of fantastic reader/contributors adding comments in the annual Buying Whisky in Japan post. One of our contributors posted on the rumor(now true) at the beginning of the month. You may wish to follow that post moving forward as these contributors really have their finger on the pulse.
Now lets go back to where it all started, at least for me, almost a decade ago on my journey into the world of Japanese whisky. Actually, most of what I am about to write about what Japanese Whisky was available to many folks is good up until about 5-6 years ago. Maybe you didn’t have some of these bottling’s in your home country but they were readily available on line from retailers in the UK and Europe who ship worldwide.
I don’t want to dwell too much on closed distilleries such as Hanyu or Karuizawa. For most whisky drinkers you may as well be talking about the Unicorn, myths and legends that they will never see, only read about.
The Big Two Japanese whisky producers are Suntory and Nikka! Within the time frame mentioned in the last paragraph, this is what you could find easily on the shelves of liquor stores in Japan and many of them from retailers outside of Japan.
Lets start with Suntory and I will be focusing on age statement bottling’s. Number will represent the age in years and I’ll be adding the approximate price in Yen so you will be able to do the exchange rate into your own currency.
Suntory Royal Blend 12 and 15. Y2,500 and Y4,000.
Suntory Hibiki blends 12, 17 and 17 50.5% and 21. Y6,000, Y10,000 and Y20,000.
Yamazaki Single Malt 10, 12, and 18. Y4,000, Y6000 and Y20,000.
Chita Single Grain 12. Y5,000.
Next up Nikka
Yoichi Single Malt 10, 12, 15 and 20. Y4,000, Y6,000, Y10,000 and Y20,000
Miyagikyo Single Malt 10, 12, and 15. Y4,000, Y6,000 and Y10,000
Taketsuru Pure Malt 12, 17 and 21. Y4,000, Y7,000 and Y10,000.
Also readily available at retail, distillery or online.
Multiple annual vintage or special cask releases. Multiple single cask aged statement whiskies. These are the ones you might see listed on Whiskybase and wonder how the hell people got those bottle’s
Suntory even had an Owner’s Cask program in Japan where you could buy a whole cask of Yamazaki or Hakushu. Yes it was a marketing program to try and sell more whisky when the Japanese Whisky Industry was in the doldrums but again, it was in the time line I have mentioned. Suntory used to advertise the program on it’s website with prices, age, age distilled and cask type. I can tell you that you could buy many a cask for less than a single bottle some Yamazaki or Hakushu might sell today at auction.
So what do we have today that’s widely available removing the soon to be discontinued bottling’s.
Suntory
1 x Hakushu and 1 x Yamzaki single malt no age statement bottling’s.
Yamazaki 12 single malt
Hibiki Harmony and Harmony Masters Select(Airport exclusive) no age statement blends.
Chita Single Grain whisky no age statement.
A few no age statement blends.
Nikka
Nikka From the Barrel no age statement(though this is a personal favorite and generally well regarded in whisky circles).
1 x Miyagikyo and 1 x Yoichi single malt no age statement bottling’s.
Taketsuru Pure Malt no age statement.
Nikka The Blend 12YO.
A few no age statement blends.
You may not feel a hint of depression after reading that but I sure do. We are down to 2 readily available age statement bottling’s from the two biggest players in the Japanese whisky industry.
Now it’s easy to read many articles online as the the reasons why the current state of play. Doesn’t really help much though. Also, I have read where journalists have spoken to a rep from Nikka or Suntory and they are trying to talk up how they are still going to concentrate on the quality of their whisky. No doubt they will but it does not mean the whiskies will be particularly great either. Make up your own minds but from the current list, I only rate a few as stuff I’d wish to have in the whisky cabinet at all times. Can young whiskies be very good, sure can. But why should we pay the same price for NAS whisky as age statement whisky. It may not even be that one is better than another, but we also know we are paying more for an age statement whisky because the age statement cask has to recoup the time invested by the distillery warehousing the barrels for 10 years or more.
So what about the future say 3 to 8 years?
We have big production ramp ups from both Nikka and Suntory going back a few years but it will be many years before we start seeing any multiple readily available age statement bottling’s from either and then at what price? I also worry that that they will fear being caught with their pants down again and release age statement bottling’s irregularly as special releases and at premium prices.
We have new Japanese Whisky distilleries that will have bottling’s of no younger than 3 years available by the time of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. The issue here is that like Chichibu, Mars and Akashi they will be small concerns with limited production runs as will be the total amount of liquid distilled. So many whisky fans will never have a chance to buy a bottle, especially age statements or single casks. We all know the price of many a Chichibu at auction!!!
You are certainly not going to be able to nip down to Costco’s and grab a bottle when the mood strikes.
So what do we really need from Suntory and Nikka moving forward?
In the short term if you are going to bottle mainly no age statement whiskies please give it character and complexity, especially the distinct distillery characterisitcs of Yamazaki, Hakushu, Yoichi and Miyagikyo. For the most part for anyone that had the pleasure of enjoying the age statement versions, both Suntory and Nikka have failed.
Make the prices commensurate with having no age on the label. A no age statement bottling should never cost the same as the age statement bottling version did yet they do.
Have the balls to produce enough whisky so that in the future they can consistently stock retail shelves in all the major markets with various age statement bottling’s at fair prices! There, I’ve said it!
Nose: Icing sugar, lemon, mandarin, vanilla, pepper, banana, cream corn.
Palate: Fried banana, mandarin, butter, vanilla, pepper, almonds.
Finish: Mandarin, butter and a little pepper.
Last Word: The most “Imperial” thing about this blended whisky is the lovely decanter style bottle it comes in. Beyond that it is a fairly simple offering.
Rating: 78/100