Japanese Whisky's Article

Japanese whisky has recently experienced a massive upsurge in popularity, with a number of superlative expressions on the market. Despite their recent rise to power, the Japanese have actually been producing whisky for a number of years, having first begun around the year 1870. The market for Japanese whisky is now huge and their success was marked in 2008 with the World Whiskies Awards. To the amazement of the world, the Japanese were awarded the coveted title for best single malt whisky in the world. The world's best whisky was the delectable Yoichi 20 Year Old.

The inception of the industry in Japan is widely regarded to be down to two men; Shinjiro Torii and Masataka Taketsuru. Torii founded the globally famed brand Suntory. He originally started with a small store in Osaka, which grew into the giant Suntory is today. An exceptional example of Suntory's craft is Hibiki 17 Year Old. A whisky made famous in the 2003 film Lost in Translation, in which Bill Murray plays an actor filming a Suntory Hibiki commercial. Hibiki 17 is a blended whisky with cherry and fruit and an exquisite toffee and vanilla character.

Apart from Suntory, there is a second colossus on the Japanese whisky scene ? Nikka. Nikka was established by Masataka Taketsuru, who ventured all the way to Scotland in 1918 to discover the techniques and craft used to produce Scotch whisky. He took these skills back to Japan and built a distillery in Hokkaido in 1934. This was the Yoichi distillery, producer of the illustrious Yoichi 20. Another Nikka whisky is the Single Coffey Malt. This is distilled in a column still, so it is not technically a single malt (single malt whisky must be produced in a pot still). Regardless, Coffey Malt is a fine whisky in its own right, matured for 12 years it exhibits notes of bourbon and vanilla, espresso coffee and dried fruits.

Masataka was celebrated with a superb whisky named after him. Taketsuru 17 Year Old is a delightful blended malt whisky. Blended malt is the product of malt whisky from multiple distilleries. This classic Nikka dram is a balanced affair with notes of honey, oak and vanilla on the nose with a floral, fruity palate. Our last Japanese whisky was created by the Suntory brand. It was distilled in their first distillery, Yamazaki. Yamazaki 12 Year Old was the first seriously marketed Japanese whisky, with a nutty and floral nose and notes of sweet spice and fruit salad on the palate.

Japanese whisky bears much in common with Scotch, the terroir is very similar as are the production techniques. All of the above are available from the online whisky store Master of Malt.

By: Darren Seabrook

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Darren Seabrook has been tasting whisky fro over 20 years. One of his favourites at the moment is Tomatin Whisky, a single cask single malt whisky.