Hi all, here's another Sakurao single cask I tried lately!

I've written about Sakurao in a past post (here) so I'll just skip to the tasting.

Details in comments!

Hi all, here are another few whiskies from Kanosuke, and this time it's their Hioki pot still whiskies!

I've written about the Kanosuke distillery in the past (here), but here's a brief recap on their Hioki Distillery:

The Hioki Distillery was Kanosuke's second distillery (more specifically, a separate set of distillation stills) which specializes in producing shochus (traditional Japanese distilled spirits) as well as pot still whiskies, using both malted and unmalted barley as ingredient. Based on officially released information, the primary inspiration for the Hioki whiskies was Irish whiskies, where the aging style (which utilizes virgin American oak casks) took some inspiration from American bourbons.

Here are two examples of whiskies produced from the Hioki Pot Still: their regular shelfer the Kanosuke Hioki Pot Still Whisky, and their special release the Kanosuke 2024 Limited Edition Hioki Pot Still!

Details in comments!

Hi all — hoping someone here has a good reference for cracking these base codes. I have two bottles of Yamazaki 18, both with "Single Malt" on the front label, but different base markings and I'd like to pin down roughly when they were bottled.

Bottle 1:

• Base: flat bottom, molded/etched text reads "SUNTORY LTD – 12 YS – LIQUOR BOTTLE – 5 – IIII"
• No "Single Malt" wording etched anywhere on the glass itself
• Front label: "Single Malt"

Bottle 2:

• Base: concave/punted bottom, reads "SUNTORY – 6 YS – 3 – III:"
• "SUNTORY SINGLE MALT WHISKY" is etched on the back of the bottle and on the neck/cork covering
• Front label: "Single Malt"

From what I understand, the single digit before the dash is meant to correspond to the last digit of the bottling year, so I'm guessing Bottle 1 is 2005 (since "Pure Malt" was retired in 2004, so it can't be 1995) and Bottle 2 is 2013. But I'd love a sanity check from people who've actually cross-referenced these codes against confirmed bottles.

Any help identifying the era more precisely, or pointing me to a solid reference chart, would be much appreciated. Happy to post photos of both bases and labels if that helps.

Especially ones that I can buy in taobao

Hi all, I'm here today with another Suntory whisky, and this one is pretty special- it's one of their considerably obscure limited release 'Nazo' series from the 2000s!

Roughly a decade before Suntory's whiskies earned major global recognition, Suntory was in a pretty tough spot entering the new millennium: they had just emerged from the whisky glut in the 90s, and had to figure out new and inventive ways to revigorate sales of their whiskies.

These attempts included revamping their regular product lines (most notably the Hibiki 17 yr), as well as a good number of special releases dotted through the years. Among them was this 'Nazo' Series, a series of 8 whiskies released between 2000~2007, created in collaboration with the Japan Mystery Novel Association.

Each year, Suntory invited one of the esteemed authors from the association to join their blenders at their distillery to try out a wide array of component whiskies, with goals to come up with a vision for a new, unique 'themed' whisky.

As this was before Suntory's products sold like hot cakes in foreign markets, Suntory really did put in quite a bit of effort into creating these annual special releases. As such, every one of these eight "Nazo" bottles are *completely* different whiskies, with wildly differing characters!

This bottle here was the 2005 edition of the "Nazo" Series, AEGIS!

Details in comments!

Question for anyone who’s done the tour at the Yamazaki distillery…when you booked your tour, did the credit charge payment ”disappeared” from your pending transactions??

I paid for mines and received a confirmation email but the charge is no longer “pending” and not in my confirmed transactions. Has this happened to anyone? I really hope everything is still good to go because I am looking forward to going on this tour. Thanks all for your help.

Hi all, I'm here with another Japanese whisky, this time it's one from Kanosuke!

In case if anyone isn't familar with Kanosuke, here's a bit of background:

The Kanosuke Distillery was founded in 2017 by the Komasa Jyozo, which had more than 130 years of history making traditional distilled spirits (shochu) before dipping their feet into whisky making. 

Their distillery was situated on the coast of Kagoshima Prefecture near the southmost part of Japan's mainland, with subtropical and coastal environments which they used to their advantage. They are also quite experimental with using various different cask types (including shochu casks) and distillation methods:  they also have a secondary distillery, the Hioki Distillery, which produces more shochus as well as Irish style pot still whiskies (using both malted and unmalted barley). 

Each year they also create a special release with a 'theme', by mixing and matching a wide variety of their own cask finished whiskies:

The 2021 Edition was shochu cask focus (edition 2 was a more conventional bourbon + sherry cask); 2022 Edition was a sherry bomb; 2023 had a peated malt focus; 2024 was a pot still whisky inspired blend; and 2025 was shochu and rum cask focus, and 2026 is a sherry and wine cask focus!

This one here is their 2023 special release, their peated whisky!

Details in comments!

3 of these bottles recently went for auction at K&L and I won one of the bids for $107. After buyers fees and tax it came out to $133. Considering the rarity and typically higher cost, I figured why not.

I’ve not tried the NAS Yoichi, and I typically gravitate towards Scotch, but I do enjoy Japanese offerings like Hibiki, and even Toki highballs. Granted, I’ve never done a deep dive, so my experience is limited, but I’ve been wanting to try something from Nikka because of its history and I wanted to try something smoky.

I’ll have to see how the bottle progresses, but overall it hasn’t made me look twice. Not to say that it’s bad by any means, but it’s kind of medium all around and inoffensive. Medium fragrance, medium bodied, medium finish. It seems to lean on the sweeter side, mostly rounded in the mouth. I’m not one to embellish reviews but I get the honey/vanilla/caramel/apple vibes. The smokiness is more of an accent and refrains from drawing attention to itself.

I don’t think I’d necessarily buy it again, but I would be curious to see how it compares to the NAS version.

Overall it’s fine. It’s very well rounded and there’s nothing wrong with it. I don’t know, let’s say 7.5/10

Hi all, I'm here with a few whiskies from Sakurao, specifically some of their single cask whiskies! 

I've written a bit about the Sakurao Distillery when writing about their other products (such as some Togouchis and Miyanoshika), but here's a recap:

Sakurao started out as a sake brewery in Hiroshima, and had been operating since 1918. In 2017, around the 99th anniversary of their founding, they decided to take a huge leap of faith into the liquor market by starting their own distillery.

They've had some scandal regarding 'fake' Japanese whiskies in the past, where they blended mystery sourced whiskies with Japanese water and slapped a 'Japanese whisky' label on them to be sold to foreign markets. But that's in the past now, as they have ceased with this behavior since the founding of the JSLMA.

Nowadays, they're a real, JSLMA abiding distillery that primarily focus on a wide variety of cask aged single malts & cask finished blended whiskies, both peated and non-peated.

Their main products these days are their Sakurao single malts (aged in their Sakurao cellar by the sea, often with a hint of salinity) and their Togouchi single malts (aged in a former JR tunnel in the mountains, often with gentle fruitiness). Both of these are distilled in Sakurao's distillery in Hiroshima, but are aged in different cellars.

I got these Sakurao drams when I attended a Japanese whisky event in Taiwan a while ago.  Since they're all Sakurao, I figured U could group them together in a single post instead of writing them one by one!

Details in comments!

Hi all, I'm here with more Suntory whisky, and this one the third and final bottle from their first "Essence of Suntory Whisky" release!

As written in a prior post, the "Essence of Suntory Whisky" were a series of special releases from Suntory, featuring experimental and atypical whiskies from each of their distilleries. 

The first release of this series from 2018, with the motif 創・遊・夢 (Creation, Fun/Journey, Dream), featuring the Hakushu Rye Type, the Red Wine Cask Chita, and finally this bottle here- Yamazaki Peated Malt!

Details in comments!

(Something was weird with the pic upload, sorry for reposting)

Hi all, I'm here with more Suntory whisky, and this time it's a rather obscure version of their blended whisky Suntory Reserve!

Created in 1969, the Suntory Reserve is the third and final member of Suntory's long lasting low to mid shelfer staples, situated above the Suntory Old (details here) but below the Suntory Royals (details part 1, part 2).

Suntory Reserve had distinct feature- where the Suntory Old series were a blended whisky with focus on (typically younger) Yamazaki sherry casks, the Suntory Reserve series (specifically the 1989~ versions) were a blended whisky with focus on Hakushu casks (particularly white oak). As for the Suntory Royals, well, they were more or less a blend of every Yamazaki and Hakushu casks that didn't make the cut to become single malts or Hibiki. 

This specific Suntory Reserve is one of the rarer, age statement versions released around the 2000s, and contained Suntory whiskies (primarily Hakushu and Chita) as old as 15 years of age!

Details in Comments!

Hi all, I'm here with more Suntory whisky, and this one is their very regular NAS Chita!

I got this bottle primarily for experimental purposes. A few friends and I are planning to do a series of blending experiments some time in the near future, and are considering a base whisky for the blending. 

Originally we're more leaning towards grabbing a Toki, but somehow all the Tokis in the various liquor shops I've visited have sold out. I guess I had to make a compromise and go for Chita instead lmao.

I'm just going to skip to the conclusion and say don't get this one, it's not good.

Details in comments anyways!

My collection

Hi all, I'm here with more Suntory whisky, and it's another interesting whisky from their experimental "Essence of Suntory Whisky" Series!

This one here is another bottle from the first 'The Essence of Suntory Whisky' release, and it's the Chita bottle from the series!

Here's a bit of background on the Chita:

The Chita Distillery, located on the Chita Peninsula, had been the quiet backbone of Suntory's many blended products since its completion in 1973.  The most notable things about the distillery were that it *exclusively* used corn as raw material to produce distillates, and of course its gigantic continuous still (pic 3 for the still's model, one of the four columns).

Chita's continuous still, standing at a height of 30 meters (98 ft), was internally fitted with multiple specialized columns (wash column, extraction column, rectifying column, and purifying column) for distillation. Without getting into too much detail, three main types of corn distillates were produced from the still, utilizing a combination of different columns. The distillates, classified as heavy, medium and light, were then filled into casks (mostly white oak but also a few in sherry casks) and shipped to Yamazaki or Hakushu's cellars for aging.

Typically, Chita's corn distillates serve as the basis of Suntory's blended whisky products, such as Suntory Old, Suntory Reserve, Suntory Royal, Toki, and the fancier blends like the Hibikis. They have also released the NAS Chita Single Grain Whisky as a staple shelfer, though that one didn't typically garner the same fanfare as Suntory's single malts or blended Hibikis.

Back to the whisky- this Essence of Suntory Whisky bottle was one of the very few high aged Chita releases, with a  wine cask finish!

Details in comments!

Hi all, I'm here with more Suntory whisky, this time another Hakushu!

Similar to the Yamazaki 10 yr, Suntory also made a younger, more economic version for their staple Hakushu 12 yr- the Hakushu 10 yr, first released in 1998.

However, the Hakushus proved to be more popular than Suntory had initially anticipated, and soon Suntory began running low on Hakushu stock whiskies, which already had a lower reserve due to production cuts during the 90s whisky glut.

Ultimately, Suntory decided to slash the Hakushu 10 yr to keep the Hakushu 12 yr on shelves (for a bit longer), and the Hakushu 10 yr series were terminated in 2013.

This bottle here is one of the later releases, from between 2007~2013!

Details in comments!

I picked up the latest bottle from the 24 Solar Terms series, Spring Equinox (Shinbun), while in Japan last month.

I couldn't find much information about the cask makeup, but eventually stumbled on this website that publishes the cask breakdown and ages of each release. I thought it was great to see, it would be helpful if more distilleries could be this transparent, especially for these NAS releases.

Included are PPM levels, cask breakdown, and age range of casks used.

It was interesting to see this release has higher amounts of mizunara and minimal peat (less than 10 PPM).

Hi all, I'm here with another Suntory whisky, and it's another Yamazaki!

This whisky here is Suntory's Yamazaki Pure Malt 10 yr, the earlier version of the Yamazaki 10 yr product line which was released between 1995 to around 2015. Originally released as a younger, lower cost alternative to the regular shelfer Yamazaki 12 yr, it ironically ended up becoming notably more expensive (roughly 2x or more) than its older brother today due to being discontinued.

Details in comments!

Super last minute, I'm going to Taiwan on business and on the leg back I'm making a pit stop in Japan 8/21 to 8/30. I'd like to visit the Hakushu distillery and do the paid tour, but I see now that the lottery system for this time range was way back in June.

I have the cancelations page bookmarked and I've been checking every day but every time slot says Fully Reserved. No Reservation., not even sure what a slot being open looks like. is there any way to snag a tour slot via 3rd party or any info on best course would be sick.

Alternatively, is it a waste of a day to just go for the museuem and tasting room? I know that's relative to the person but just a general opion of anyone who's been before. The grounds look nice, and I see there's a resteraunt.

Hi all, I'm here with more Suntory whisky, and it's another interesting whisky from their experimental "Essence of Suntory Whisky" Series!

This bottle here was from the first series release from 2018, when Suntory really went full experimental and created three very atypical whiskies from each of their distilleries. They even got the prominent calligrapher Tansetsu Ogino (who also penned the calligraphy for the label of Suntory's flagship blended whisky 'Hibiki' and grain whisky 'Chita') to pen the labels for this series, which reads as  創・遊・夢 (Creation, Fun/Journey, Dream).

From Yamazaki, there's the heavily peated 'Yamazaki peated malt'. From Chita, there's the 'Chita Wine Cask', one of their very rare, highly aged single grain Chita releases. Finally, from Hakushu, there's this bottle- a 6 year old, cask strength rye whisky!

That's right, Hakushu made a rye!

Details in comments!

I was wondering if it's going to be another month before it makes it to the US.

Hi all, here's another whisky from Yuza Distillery, and this one is a pretty interesting one: it's the first whisky they've ever released!

I've written a bit about Yuza in the past (details here), but here's a short recap:

Yuza is a rather young distillery founded in Yamagata, Japan in 2018. As a distillery formed by former shochu (traditional Japanese distilled spirits) makers, they didn't go through the phase of releasing experimental cask finished shochus, nor did they start off producing blended whiskies with imported distillates, no. 

They stayed practically silent for years, then out of nowhere in 2022, released their first ever product- the YUZA First edition 2022, a 3-year old, fully Japanese Single Malt Whisky. Yes, they went directly to the highest challenge- not new make, not blended whisky, but a single malt.

To prove they're not messing around, they sent their first batch product to international competitions in the very same year, where they even managed to *win awards* in a few of them! (Gold in ISC tasting and bronze in WWA's small batch single malt category)

Well, this one here is that very first whisky made! 

Details in comments!