Nose: honey and light sherry notes. Palate: light wood that becomes more strong with time, peat? Sharp, numbing. Not fruity. Not very enjoyable. Finish: short, spicy, sour. The “sharpness” of the flavors was like warm knives touching my tongue, a little numb, it’s ok. […]

For many of us, the first thing we visualize when it comes to whisky is the design of our favorite bottle. Bottles that sit on modern bar shelves must capture the attention of drinkers with an increasingly dizzying array of options. Higher end whiskies of […]

2018 marks a century since the founder of Nikka Whisky, Masataka Taketsuru, set out on a journey that would alter the history of Japanese whisky. Based primarily on his serialized autobiography originally published in Nikkei in 1968, in Part Seven Taketsuru gets to work making whisky […]

Suntory may be running low on whisky from Yamazaki, but that probably leaves them with plenty of empty casks. They have now announced a new edition of their Yamazaki cask-aged umeshu. This one is not simply aged in Yamazaki casks, but charred Yamazaki casks. That should […]

Osaka was rocked by a fairly strong earthquake at 7:58AM this morning, and Suntory has announced the Yamazaki Distillery and all facilities will be closed for the day as a result. There are no reports of damage to the distillery though. Information is still rolling […]

Suntory’s Hakushu Distillery is an easy day trip from Tokyo. In celebration of Hakushu 25 being named the World’s Best Single Malt Whisky at WWA2018, this past weekend I paid the distillery another much-overdo visit. About the Hakushu Distillery In 1973, the 50th anniversary of the […]

I’m sad to report that there might not be a Yamazaki Limited Edition 2018. Suntory has announced their Western liquor summer gift collection for 2018. Notably missing from the collection: Yamazaki Limited Edition 2018. Why is that significant? Since at least 2014, the first year […]

Big big news early in the year from Suntory Spirits as they have just announced the new “THE ESSENCE of SUNTORY WHISKY” series. The first three bottles of the series are as follows, all dropping on February 27: THE ESSENCE Single Malt Whisky Yamazaki Distillery […]

Suntory’s flagship beer brand in Japan is The Premium Malts, and since 2015 they’ve been selling their super-premium edition called “Master’s Dream.” Master’s Dream is made using triple decoction and Diamond malts from the Czech Republic. Now the company is taking the best of their beer […]

Suntory has announced Yamazaki Mizunara 2017 Edition, and this year it’s set to drop on October 3rd. Obviously this one needs no introduction. By this point, if you haven’t heard of Yamazaki Mizunara, you probably don’t even like Japanese whisky! The company is releasing “around” […]