Question about Japanese Whiskey

[mike sax]

Hello all, new to this forum and looking forward to chatting with a good many of you. My first order of business is a bottle of Japanese 12 year old Whisky that I've had for a good many years. I'm hoping that you are familiar with this brand and can offer some information. It is Suntory Pure Malt Whisky aged 12 years. I received it about 20 years ago from a client in Japan. Its been sitting in my cabinet all these years and never gave it much thought until I asked happened to ask one of the clerks in my local liquor store about it. His suggestion was to join a forum and ask. He had no idea.

So, here I am asking this question, and hoping for someone's response. Looking forward to chatting with you. Happy Holidays
Mike

[Samson]

HI Mike and welcome, the Suntory Pure Malt Whisky aged 12 years was produced at the Yamazaki distillery and is no longer available, probably worth a few dollars more than the original purchase price as there is now huge interest in Japanese whisky. If you are a whisky drinker I am sure you would enjoy it. Or if you want to taste something similar you could try the Suntory Yamazaki 12 Year Old single malt which I believe replaced the Suntory Pure Malt Whisky aged 12 years.

[mike sax]

Hello Samson,
Thank you for your response to my thread. As mentioned, I received this bottle a number of years ago, and it's been sitting in my cabinet for all these years. Almost forgot about it until someone mentioned this brand the other day. That sparked my memory, and I told this person that i had it. But he didn't know much about it either. I appreciate your helping me out. By the way, I received another product of Japan around the same time. It was produced by a company called Nikka NGK 01 This one is a bit more elaborate, it comes in a box with a Japanese Samurai Warrior shaped bottle complete with warrior headgear type cover. Are you at all familiar with this brand?
Thanks again,
Mike

[CGRenn]

[sorren]

Hi mike.
First of all welcome to the forum, I hope you have an enjoyable time and contribute plenty.. As Samson has already told you about what you have your decision is " to drink or not to drink" this all depends on your opinion of selling, your bottle will be worth something to a collector or someone who is desperate to try this bottle, as you may know your bottle has not aged anymore, it is still a 12yo. As for your other bottle, or even both then you can always show them off on a shelf, bottles that are no longer available can bring some pleasure.. Any way once again welcome and enjoy your time here..

[opelfruit]

There is a good introduction to Japan here on the site:

http://www.scotchmaltwhisky.co.uk/japanese.htm


There is also a sub-forum at the bottom of the main forum index for Japan.


In terms of Japanese whisky, one of the big differences is that the companies do not have trading agreements with each other. In Scotland most companies will trade casks of new make with each other that they use for their own blending, in Japan this doesn't exist. The result is that a company such as Nikka will have several distilleries that produce different whiskies, and in each distillery they also have the ability to produce different types of whisky from the same distillery.

A good example of this is with Suntory;

To make Hakushu they make several different types of whisky (heavily peated, unpeated matured in sherry casks and unpeated matured in bourbon casks), they then blend the malts together to produce the end whisky.



With Nikka, their main distilleries are Yoichi and Miyagikyo. At Miyagikyo they have pot stills to make malt whisky but they also have a Coffey (column) still where they make grain whisky and also malt whisky in continuous distillation (can't be called "single malt). They use these different methods to produce a range of pure malts (mixture of malt whiskies from their own distilleries) as well as their own blends.



The big players in Japan are Nikka and Suntory.

Suntory produce Yamazaki (sherried whisky mainly), Hakushu (peated whisky mainly) and a blend called Hibiki (made from malts from Yamazaki and Hakushu as well as grain from their grain distillery Chita).

Nikka produce Yoichi (lightly peated and sherry matured, mainly), Miyagikyo (a lighter, more floral highland style), blended malt made up of whiskies from Miyagikyo and Yoichi called Taketsuru as well as a range of blends like Super Nikka or Nikka from the Barrel which contain grain whisky made at Miyagikyo in their column still.


As already stated; there has been a big boom in sales for Japanese whisky and it was not expected, as such the older stock has been taken up and it'll be quite some time before the maturing stock will be able to replace it. Prices have rises massively in line with this, so if you have bygone whiskies from Japan then they'll be worth a lot - especially if they are ones that were for the domestic market only.
_________________
"Too much of anything is bad, but too much good whisky is barely enough."

[mike sax]

[sorren]

Mike if you do decide to sell there is a sales section on here and there are some excellent auction sites.. Whatever you decide to do I am sure you will not regret it.. It will be like tasting history if you decide to drink, and I'm sure your partner will enjoy spending the money if you sell 🙈😂😂

[mike sax]

Thank you very much for your response. Not sure what I'll be doing with these bottles, but good to know that I have resources. Have a very happy and safe holiday season.
Mike