I would dare to say that this is the flagship whisky from Suntory. Yamazaki is the oldest true whisky distillery in Japan (1924). The distillery was designed by Masataka Taketsuru for Shinjiro Torii (founder of Suntory). For a long while the Yamazaki 12 was the youngest and most affordable Yamazaki Single Malt available in Europe and the US. That place has now been taken by the Yamazaki Distiller’s Reserve, but the 12 remains as one of the iconic Japanese single malts expressions. The 18 and 25 year old Yamazaki’s are now getting to a price point well above most budgets so the 12 will probably be the new “18” in terms of how people purchase and drink it.

A lot of people wonder why Japanese whiskies are more expensive than Scottish whiskies at a given age. I am sure there are a lot of factors involved including taxes and trade agreements but one fundamental reason is that whiskies age faster in Japan. By this I mean that the angel’s share is quite a bit more dear at the distilleries in Japan. Due to greater fluctuations in weather in Japan, casks breathe more which causes greater loss of spirits but also faster maturation. So because they lose more spirit faster, they get less whisky after 12 years than a typical Scottish distillery. Well that’s one reason anyway.

Distillery: Yamazaki

Age: 12

Type: Single Malt

ABV: 43%

Price: £65 (£63.89 from Master of Malt)

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There has been a trend of late for new single malt expressions eschewing the traditional age statements. It has caused quite a stir in the whisky community with very good points to each side of the argument. I think it is fairly obvious that the main driver for the trend is the diminishing stocks of older whiskies. This current surge in whisky interest follows a depressing time for whisky distillers. Some people called it the whisky lake. During the 80’s and 90’s demand for whisky dropped significantly. People moved toward wine and other drinks. Distilleries were closing down. In fact Yamazaki didn’t produce any spirit in the year 2000. As a consequence, older whiskies are becoming harder to come by. Whisky companies are now relying on flavourful younger stocks to keep their brands alive. That’s the climate which has brought forth this newer release from Yamazaki. The Yamazaki Distiller’s Reserve was released about this time last year (late spring of 2014) in the UK. My first taste was at the 2014 Evening with the Blenders Event. I must say I was impressed back then and I am still impressed now. This supplants the Yamazaki 12 as the entry level whisky into the Yamazaki line up.

Distillery: Yamazaki

Age: NAS

ABV: 43%

Price: ~£45 (£44.95 from Master of Malt)

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This particular tasting is a real treat for me. The Nikka 12 year old blend has been available in Japan since last September but according to Master Blender Tadashi Sakuma, it will be released in Europe in about 2 months from now (May 1st 2015 as I write this). I was lucky to try this at the Evening with the Blenders Event hosted by the Scotch Whisky Experience. It’s a great event but I won’t go too much into it here.

According to Tadashi, this blend is comprised of whisky from Yoichi and Miyagikyo. Miyagikyo has both pot stills and coffey stills and subsequently create both malt whisky and grain whisky. So this blend is all Japanese unlike some other whiskies release by Nikka which incorporate spirit from Nikka owned Ben Nevis Distillery (Pure malt series and Nikka Black).

While Nikka is known for it’s unusual selection of expressions in Europe including Coffey Malt, pure malts and “double malts” (aka the Taketsuru lineup), I believe this is the first age statement, all Japanese, true blend (using grain and malt whisky) to be released by Nikka in Europe.

Interesting information from Tadashi regarding the well known Pure Malt series, there was a lot of speculation about the use of Islay malt whisky in the Pure Malt White blended malt. He said that while they did use some in the beginning, they now mostly use Yoichi to make up the peaty profile of the blended malt. Makes sense seeing as how Islay whiskies are getting hard to come by due to high demands.

Type: Blend

Distillery: Yoichi Malt, Miyagikyo Malt, and Miyagikyo Grain

Expression: Nikka 12 year old blend

Age: 12 Years Old

ABV: 43%

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