Tag Archives: Suntory

Yamazaki and Hakushu Distiller’s Reserve

The Yamazaki 15 was the first Japanese whisky that I tasted, and it is a moment that I still remember vividly. It was a delightfully orangery whisky that seemed to trick the tastebuds as the flavours seemed to be in uexpected places unlike the Scottish spirit that I was accustomed too. Since then my knowledge and appreciation of Japanese whisky has grown, some of the best tastings I’ve attended have been about Japanese whisky (The Whisky Show 2012), and how could I not mention this Karuizawa from Number One Drinks? Yes – that one!…

Japanese Three Way – A Masterclass in Whisky

jonmbryant in Festival, Reviews, Tasting

This was a masterclass that I was very much looking forward too! The prospect of six Japanese whiskies from three of the biggest players in the game had been too much to resist and I willingly signed up to this event at the earliest opportunity.…

Suntory Cocktails in London!

jonmbryant in Tasting, Whisky

Friday was a good day! Sharon (my wife) and I (Jon) headed down to London for a packed day of tourist and whisky related activities. We had a lovely lunch cruise on the Thames, a trip on the London Eye and dinner in Covent Garden, but what you’ll really be interested in is what we did at the Corinthia! By rights we were lucky to be there as it was my co-blogger Mike who had won the competition ran by Alwynne of Miss Whisky – picking up a lovely bottle of Hibiki 17 and a day out in London sampling Japanese whisky and enjoying cocktails in a private lesson. Fortunately for us Mike is a teacher, and even more fortunately it wasn’t holiday time for teachers, so he couldn’t get the time off work paving the way for Sharon and I to go down and step in!
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Turning Japanese

jonmbryant in Reviews, Whisky

This Thursday last, we took ourselves along to ‘The Whisky Shop‘ in Birmingham run by Craig Mills. We were there for a preview event featuring a selection of some very fine Japanese whisky before the main tasting event run by Craig and the Birmingham Whisky Club at the ‘Old Joint Stock’ that same evening.

We were greeted by the European Brand Ambassador for Suntory Whisky, Tatsuya Minagawa. It was great to hear about the history of Japanese whisky production and about how whisky is produced there today.

We had four whiskies to try, all from Suntory; Hibiki 12, Yamazaki 12, Hakushu 12 and the Hibiki 17. I [Mike] having never tried Japanese whisky before was really keen to explore these new tastes. Jon has several of these bottlings in his collection, but hasn’t shared them with me!

We started with the Hibiki 12…

On the nose we got some pineapple, vanilla and orange. This whisky was matured in plum wine casks and we certainly picked up the sweet fruitiness on the tongue. The finish for us was short but sweet.

Next up was the Yamazaki 12…

Again it was sweetness on the nose with candied orange peel and marmalade. On tasting we picked up honey, barley and oranges. It was satisfyingly luxuriant on the tongue, oily enough to let the tastes linger. The finish brought more orange and a slight reminiscence of dark chocolate.

Ah.. the Hakushu 12…

If we had favourite out of the four, this would be it. We both loved the smokiness and peat on the nose and also picked up a hint of white fruit and grass. On the tongue the subtlety of the flavours made this whisky satisfying and complex, there was more peat, smoke, apples and the smell of grass on a dry summer’s day. Lovely. The finish gave the feel of an unhurried sit by a dying bonfire in the late evening. Jim Murray gave it 95.5 and who are we to argue! We went back for seconds!

Last up was the Hibiki 17…

It had a rich deep amber hue and on the nose the richness came through, Christmas cake, almonds, marzipan, chocolate. On the tongue, we got cherries and more rich fruitiness. It was complex, a step up from the 12 in our opinion.

The Line-Up

All in all a great couple of hours and we look forward to tasting many more Japanese whiskies and making it to the next Birmingham Whisky Club tasting. If you’re in Birmingham city centre why not pop into the Whisky Shop and have a chat with Craig!