Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/19027
Yamazaki has two coopers on site and does its own charring of Japanese oak barrels. The complexity and deep honeyed flavor of Hibiki 12 Year Old is due to its blend of 30 single malts and seven grain whiskies. of the Mt. Kai-Komagatake Alps, was established. Among the San Francisco World Spirits Competition Double Gold Medal–winning whiskies produced by these two distilleries are the muted raisins and cherries of Yamazaki 12 Year Old single malt, the green wheat and smoky honey of the Yamazaki 18 Year Old, and the mesmerizing bamboo-filtered Hibiki 12 Year Old, one of the most elegant and complex blended whiskies I have ever sipped. Suntory is increasing their presence in America with these three whiskies. But they are doing it in a non-Japanese way, by ignoring tradition. Suntory utilizes three different combinations of pot stills, mixing and matching sizes and shapes to produce individualistic flavors. They buy both peated and unpeated barley from Scotland to precisely control the amount—or lack—of smokiness. They also use five different types of oak aging vessels: puncheons, sherry butts, hogsheads, American barrels and their own Japanese Mizunara oak barrels, which impart a spicy sweetness. And Japan’s four distinct seasons impart greater influences during the aging process. “Our biggest problem Surrounded by bamboo and maple forests, the Yamazaki Distillery is located at the confluence of the Katsura, Kizu, and Uji rivers, and was the site of the first copper pot still in Japan. is trying to overcome the stigma that we are like Scotch whisky,” says Tetsu Mizutani, Executive Officer of Suntory’s Whisky Department, Spirits Division. “We make Japanese whisky, with its own character and taste. Just as there are New World wines, we want to be thought of as the New World whisky.” While Scotland has 109 distilleries, Suntory has only two. But with a realistic 20-year plan to increase their global presence by 50 percent, Japan’s centuries-old ideologies may prove that patience is indeed a virtue. november 2010 / the tasting panel / 93