I have grown to love whisky. I didn’t at first. I learned the basics from my father when I was a child and I visited a handful of whisky distilleries in Scotland a decade ago. It wasn’t until I dove deep into Japanese Whisky that I really began to appreciate the brown spirit. That being said, the love I have for Japanese drams has thus led me back to Scotland.
For now though, let’s talk about Japan. What is it that has everyone so hung up on Japanese Whisky? The first license for whisky production in Japan was handed out less than a century ago so it can’t be particularly historical. Is it craftsmanship? Well, the Japanese do have a knack for emulation. I’ve had better, more honest Italian meals in Ginza than I have in Bolgheri (though that certainly is a rare case). Is it marketing? The only real marketing giant for whisky in Japan is Suntory with maybe a little bit from Asahi Beverages owned Nikka so I don’t think they produce the volume of the likes of Macallan or Johnnie Walker.
I think it is a combination of everything. Suntory’s marketing is brilliant and I will certainly touch on that in a later post. Even if they don’t leave Japan, they are still well known and incredibly well placed.
Also, Japanese do emulate well but in this case it isn’t just about emulation.
The original man to make whisky for Shinjiro Torii (the founder of Suntory whisky) back in the very early 1920s, Masataka Taketsuru, actually accrued experience in Scotland! He worked at Hazelburn in the Campbeltown region, studied chemistry at the University of Glasgow and even married a ginger-haired Scottish woman before coming back to make whisky for the Japanese in a small town called Yamazaki. By that time, he definitely knew a thing or two about Scotland and its whiskies. He returned to Japan ready to produce whisky that was reflective of his time in Scotland.
However, a rift between Taketsuru and Torii started to emerge, and they did not agree on the profile of whisky best suited for the Japanese palate, among other things. Taketsuru left after a short stint and moved north to the island of Hokkaido and purchased a juice company that funded the building of Yoichi distillery. As a result, early in the history of Japanese Whisky, you have two distinct camps of whisky and two very distinct profiles. There is also a fierce, honor-driven goal shared by both parties to outperform, outsell and outcraft each other. This actually helped to raise the bar of whisky production even with very few competitors.
More recently, a former Suntory employee named Ichiro Akuto purchased the casks from his grandfather’s defunct distillery and marketed a series of bottles with each cask, resembling a different face in a deck of cards. The bottles of this ‘Card Series’ have since become some of the most sought-after drinks on the planet, with a few releases auctioning for well over $10,000 a bottle!
It is a combination of a series of events that have made Japanese Whisky such a hot commodity but it isn’t the best. What is best is in the eye of each individual consumer.
Below are reviews and ratings of five Japanese Whiskies I presented at a tasting that showcased both Scottish and Japanese Whisky.
Karuizawa 12 Year-Old Single Malt
Country: Japan
Region: Nagano
Vintage: Bottled in the 1990s
Score: 89 Points
Some people would attest to the fact that indie whisky-maker-turned-superstar Ichiro Akuto’s involvement with post Number 1 Drinks bottling has changed the way Karuizawa’s whiskies taste. This pre Number 1 Drinks bottling supports that statement. The nose is spicy with black pepper, caraway and malty with baker’s chocolate and a small hit of charcoal. The palate is big and oily with subtle notes of pine needle and vanilla but the texture doesn’t coexist very well with the actual notes being tasted. The finish is short but clean. This is a great opportunity to taste historical variance between master blenders.
Ocean Distillery 10 Year-Old Vatted Malt produced at Karuizawa
Country: Japan
Region: Nagano
Vintage: Likely bottled in the 1970s.
Score: 95 Points
There is something to be said for Ocean’s bottlings at Karuizawa. Through various strings of acquisitions, there have been numerous bottlings and expressions that changed in efforts to appeal to the Japanese palate because at the time, no one else was drinking this. This is complex whisky. It is not for everyone but it is unique, layered and intriguing. There were some telltale notes from Karuizawa: this tire rubber, shiitake mushroom kind of thing. But then follows notes of freshly baked cinnamon buns, and I mean every component from pastry to fresh cinnamon to rum soaked raisins and icing sugar. The best part of all, the whisky was dry, oily and had a tannin component that wrapped the whole taste up very nicely. An historic bottle and very enjoyable.
Yamazaki ‘Tobu 35th Anniversary’ 13 Year-Old Single Cask
Country: Japan
Region: Kyoto
Vintage: Distilled 1999, Bottled 2012
Score: 93 Points
Bottled from a Hogshead Single Cask, Yamazaki is doing fewer and fewer of these special department store releases, if any. ‘The Owners Cask’ series has essentially been discontinued until further notice, but there are still plenty of these bottles floating around. The nose reveals a sort of candied and inviting Cinnamon Toast Crunch Cereal note as well as other baked goods such as blueberry muffin. There is a field berry component that carries onto the palate, and the candied cinnamon transitions to a cinnamon bark tannin felt throughout the length of the tasting. This bottling is cask strength and there is certainly an element of ethanol, however this is well integrated into the whisky and it brings richness, and texture to the well balanced dram.
Ichiro’s ‘Takashimaya 180th Anniversary’ No Age Statement Blended
Country: Japan
Region: Saitama
Vintage: Distilled 1999, Bottled 2012
Score: 97 Points
Malt-and-grain is not a bad word! Many people consider Single Malt to be the defining term on a whisky label but this isn’t the case. Ichiro Akuto is an excellent craftsman, blender and marketer. This bottling for the old-school Japanese department store is no exception. Fresh baked banana bread, spice box and sassafras are big and prominent on both the nose and palate. The finish exudes sweet, fine tannins. Bottled at 48%, that helps. One skill of Ichiro’s is his ability to seamlessly convert high alcohol by volume into decadence. It reminds me of a well-made Valpolicella Superiore DOC versus a simple Valpolicella DOC. The difference is in the alcohol and Ichiro has done it here.
Suntory Hibiki 21 Year-Old Blended
Country: Japan
Region: Honshu, Main Island of Japan
Vintage: Bottled in the 2000s
Score: 93 Points
Hibiki is special and it isn’t just because of Bill Murray and his promotion of Hibiki 17 in Lost in Translation. With regards to my earlier statement that malt-and-grain is not a bad word, many fans of Hibiki seem to overlook that it, too is a Blended, or malt-and-grain whisky! Aged predominantly in umeshu (Japanese apricot liqueur) casks, Hibiki is soft, spicy, round and smooth with no heat from ethanol and barley any tannin. There are notes of dark fruit compote, lapin cherry, and the sweetest kind of cigar smoke, more of a vanilla e-cigarette. The palate is buttery, round and soft; the finish long. Hibiki 21 definitely can appeal to the masses. In fact, so can Hibiki 17 and the rest of the series. I look forward to tasting their No Age Statement to be released later this spring and seeing if they are able to convey this soft and sexy style even at the introductory level.
Elliot Faber is the beverage director of two cool Japanese restaurants in Hong Kong – Yardbird and Ronin – as well as Sunday’s Grocery. He is also one of the world’s experts on sake, Japanese whisky, shochu, awamori and Japanese beer.
