Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/859549
144 { THE SOMM JOURNAL } AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2017 { japanese whisky } ON A PERFECT SAN FRANCISCO June afternoon, a crowd of the Bay Area's hip bartenders and mixologists stepped out of the brilliant sunlight and began filing down the stairs into the crepuscular light of a bar on Montgomery Street. Normally, there are a few empty seats at an afternoon seminar, but not that day. The Art of the Highball presentation drew more people than space allowed— but the turnout probably wouldn't have been so good a decade ago. "Seven, eight, nine years ago Japanese whiskey was a stone thrown into a pond," says Johnnie Mundell, Beam Suntory's Japanese Whisky Brand Ambassador. Initially, Suntory took a Highball The Art of the SUNTORY WHISKY TOKI CRAFTS A CLASSIC JAPANESE COCKTAIL IN SAN FRANCISCO by Diane Denham / photos by Hardy Wilson Mundell explains the impact different types of mineral water have on the Highball and how they can influence its flavor profile. A Toki Highball made with slowly frozen ice spheres with few impurities. In lieu of specialty ice, chill all the ingredients rather than using standard bar ice that melts too quickly and destroys carbonation. Johnnie Mundell, Beam Suntory Japanese Whisky Ambassador West Coast.