Malt Mission 2007 #103

Suntory Yamazaki 10yo
Japanese Single Malt Whisky
40% abv
£25

The second of three Japanese whiskies I will be having this week. Turning Japanese? I really think so.

Shinjiro Torii founded Yamazaki, the first whisky distillery in Japan, in 1923 in the Yamazaki Valley near Kyoto. As mentioned on Monday, the distillery was supervised by Masataka Taketsuru. The first whiskies released by the company were Shirofuda in 1929, followed by Kakubin in 1937 and Old in 1940.

The extensive research facilities at Yamazaki have spawned a variety of changes at the distillery over the years and has resulted in the fact that the distillery currently has six very different stills, uses various yeasts, heating and maturing methods. The benefit is that Yamazaki has the ability to make a variety of styles for its blended whiskies. Because of the innovations in technique, Yamazaki is viewed as a truly Japanese whisky, rather than a traditional, Scottish-style distillery like Yoichi (Hokkaido).

Suntory is the largest company in the world of Japanese whisky. They have a very large grain distilling capacity and distill malt with pot stills at three distilleries: Hakushu (1973), Hakushu Higashi(west) (1981), and Yamazaki (1923). They produce many blended whiskies, as well as the premium blended whisky called Hibiki (that comes in stylish bottles).

Japanese malts used to be limited to a very limited foreign market, but now Suntory whiskies are exported to 25 countries. In 2006, they released Premium Soda, soda water sourced from Yamazaki and intended for use in a whisky and soda. Their visitor centre, where, among other things, you can taste the difference between whisky distilled in direct and indirect fired stills, won Whisky Mag's Visitor Centre of the Year 2006.

Suntory also has a great advertising tradition for their products.
Great old advert HERE (not exactly advocating responsible drinking), high-art advertising HERE(Kurosawa and Coppola), Sean Connery making a great face HERE, and a classic Suntory-related moment HERE (Lost in Translation)

More on Suntory and Japanese whisky at The Whisky Pages

TASTING NOTES:

Cherry pie, sugar powder necklaces, children's Tylenol, paint/emollient oils. Some spice. Synthetic fruit flavours and creamy vanilla, Italian fruit-and-cream hard candies.

Soft oak, vanilla, pleasant oily mouthfeel. Cinnamon. Oil flavours develop, but now nuts and sesame oil (not the toasted Chinese kind).

SUMMARY:

Lively and appetising on the nose, really wakes you up... and that is not only because it is morning. Sensuous mouth feel with rounded edges, and bit of spice. Not a lot of development, but pleasant the whole way along.

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No (Sun)Tory Poli-tricks

Suntory Red or RED Suntory Whisky
Blended Whisky
39% abv (!)
£3.50 (!)*

Today we will look at a whisky from Japan in anticipation of next week which will see us back on the Malt Mission at full strength in an International Malts-themed week.

Why am I tasting this outside of the Malt Mission format?

A few weeks ago I was pointing and clicking through Chris Bunting's informative and fun blog about Japanese whisky, Nonjatta. To be perfectly honest, and possibly politically incorrect, much of what I read on there I find very amusing as it taps into that east-meets-west, cross-cultural confusion, trip to the zoo, "oh, how cute! look what those strange Japanese people do!", kind of way. His presentation certainly helps keep one smiling. Anyways, I came across his notes on something called Suntory Red. I had never seen this stuff and from his description, I could understand why it doesn't make it to these shores. Nonetheless, I was determined to get some.

And I did.

The label tells/warns us that this "masterpiece made with the same traditional craftsmanship as the Akafuda" (Red Label) of the 1930s. Suntory produces most of its whisky for the Japanese market with a small, but growing, percentage reserved for export. This is not one of the exports.

And so I tasted it, but not in the same controlled environment that I usually 'seriously' nose and taste the whiskies in this mission. I spoke the notes into my phone.

*- price based on rough price of 840 yen.

TASTING NOTES:

Seedy, rye, oily, verging on turpentine

Bready, sweet, Listerine freshness, verging on turpentine

SUMMARY:

On a scale of "Try" to "Try to avoid", it depends where you live and what sort of spirit you are, but I say "Try". Once. And as far as I know, that is a pretty cheap drink so far as Japan goes, no? So, when in Rome...

Which brings me back to Nonjatta. Chris tells us that this is likely a whisky made to be consumed as a Mizuwari. Because there are several whiskies on the low-end of the market that fall into this category, Chris has a introduced a series I find absolutely hilarious called the Mizuwari Death Match. After my recent discovery of just how tasty Johnnie Walker Black is on ice, I hope to be able to do this with the real bottom-end blends. Can you imagine High Commissioner VS The Claymore? I look forward to it...

MM100 Celebrations

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