Show us your whisky!
Discussion
Podie said:
Mr Trophy said:
Who's going to attempted to get the new Yamazaki Sherry then?
When is it due out?What's also surprised me is the scarcity of Yamazaki at the moment, with the cheapest 18yo over £200, and listed over £400 some places - a large jump since I first bought a bottle for about £80.
hoegaardenruls said:
Podie said:
Mr Trophy said:
Who's going to attempted to get the new Yamazaki Sherry then?
When is it due out?What's also surprised me is the scarcity of Yamazaki at the moment, with the cheapest 18yo over £200, and listed over £400 some places - a large jump since I first bought a bottle for about £80.
Brilliant!Just arrived back now, will do a few proper updates in the next few days once I have time to sort things out properly.
Release date was today, but I've already seen one posting showing a premium supposedly five times the original price..
What's also surprised me is the scarcity of Yamazaki at the moment, with the cheapest 18yo over £200, and listed over £400 some places - a large jump since I first bought a bottle for about £80.Agreed, prices rises are comical. Sadly a lot seem to be heading off to make a quick buck, rather than being drunk.I had a look for it when in Japan (they get 1500 bottles) but nowhere I went into was getting it (and that was a lot of the usual spots people recommend). That said, I would imagine they put it aside for regular customers if they are getting some anyway, which is good in many ways.
Speaking about silly prices... The one shop with a lot of stock I found in Japan had insane prices (Liquours Hasegawa). Think the most reasonable price was for the Yamazaki 12yo, and that was still around £90. In the 15 minutes I was in there their 6 bottles turned into 3 from people coming and buying. So it still sells. The airport is also pretty useless - only "limited edition" age versions of most of the normal range whisky but charging £290 for a pretty bottle for a lot of them.
Mr Trophy said:
Brilliant!
Any plans to go to the Yamazaki distillery?
I didn't have time to go there, it was 7 days skiing in Niseko and a few days in Tokyo after. Need to save something for next time anyway, Any plans to go to the Yamazaki distillery?
Podie said:
hoegaardenruls said:
Podie said:
Mr Trophy said:
Who's going to attempted to get the new Yamazaki Sherry then?
When is it due out?What's also surprised me is the scarcity of Yamazaki at the moment, with the cheapest 18yo over £200, and listed over £400 some places - a large jump since I first bought a bottle for about £80.
Speaking about silly prices... The one shop with a lot of stock I found in Japan had insane prices (Liquours Hasegawa). Think the most reasonable price was for the Yamazaki 12yo, and that was still around £90. In the 15 minutes I was in there their 6 bottles turned into 3 from people coming and buying. So it still sells. The airport is also pretty useless - only "limited edition" age versions of most of the normal range whisky but charging £290 for a pretty bottle for a lot of them.
Blown2CV said:
Yamazaki is ok IMHO but no way am I fronting up that kind of money.
I totally agreed, until I tried my SMWS bottling. Next time I open it, I'll ping you a sample, I think it may change your mind!Edit - there's two bottles up for sale
https://www.scotchwhiskyauctions.com/auctions/96_t...
Mr Trophy said:
Blown2CV said:
Yamazaki is ok IMHO but no way am I fronting up that kind of money.
I totally agreed, until I tried my SMWS bottling. Next time I open it, I'll ping you a sample, I think it may change your mind!Edit - there's two bottles up for sale
https://www.scotchwhiskyauctions.com/auctions/96_t...
So; the bottles that returned to Norway. As mentioned I got 2 500ml bottles of the distillery only releases of "Yoichi Sherry and Sweet" and "Yoichi Peaty and Salty" at the distillery (two bottles back row right), plus a smaller 180ml bottle of the Peaty and Salty (lying down). The small bottle on the right is the sample of Miyagikyo. The other small bottle on the left is a Hakushu 12yo bought in Tokyo (perhaps interesting fact of the post is that it is pronounced Hak-shu). The Ichiro's Malt Double distilleries (leaf bottle lying down) is a blend of Hanyu and Chichibu whisky at 46%, and was the first bottle I bought in Tokyo. It was relatively widely available in the different department stores I visited. Almost everywhere had Yoichi, Hakushu, Miyagikyo and Yamazaki standard releases (NAS), plus quite a few had the Suntory "The Chita" and Mars Cosmo.
The next bottle bought was the Isetan only release of Mars Tsunagu. This is one that I posted about tasting earlier, although the small sample I had in the shop wasn't quite as good. Not sure if it was due to the bottle being open longer or just the smells/ tastes beforehand etc. Still good though!
After visiting a lot of department stores and one whisky specialist there was basically no aged statement stuff or things from the smaller distilleries to be found. The last place visited was the Liqor Hasegawa shop that is known for good whisky. This was later in the trip since I had read now they are very overpriced due to their reputation. Turned up at the shop and discovered quite a lot of very expensive normal aged statement whisky, plus some special bottles like the Yamazaki Puncheon, a Sherry cask and a few other things. However these were all as expensive if not a lot more expensive than European auction prices so I avoided them.
There was a few Mars bottles available though, with a few single casks available, plus the one I bought in the end. The single casks were around £240 for a 3yo and so a bit expensive for an unknown very young whisky IMO. The one bought is the Komagatake Rindo Single Malt by Mars, is 52% and seems to be a first release in a series called The Nature of Shinshu. Not sure what this tastes like, but at nearer £50 it's a much more reasonable price for buying to drink when the taste/ quality is unknown. Top left in photo. I later released due to the lack of any whisky available to taste I had got lost and ended up at the wrong shop (the one more aimed at beers). So the online descriptions are accurate when they mention getting lost in a big underground shopping centre! However when I went to the more whisky dedicated shop it had less offerings of "special" Japanese whisky, probably because the online descriptions say that is the one to go to. So visit both shops if you are in Tokyo!
I had thought that was it for the trip (if nothing else luggage space!) but then got a very pleasant surprise when going to "have a look at what they had" at the duty free arriving in Oslo. They had 4 bottles of the Macallan Rare Cask Black! So asked a friend to take one of them through duty free for me and that I would "pay" for him to get a discount from Vinmonopolet instead!
It's not as bad as it looks thankfully! The two bigger Yoichi bottles and the Mars one were in my baggage, plus the miniature Hakushu. The miniature Miyagikyo was in my hand baggage (wanted to test if the glass would get banned from hand baggage, but it was allowed so it didn't get drunk at security). The Macallan was bought at Duty Free so was in my hand baggage but went through customs with a friend. The other bottles were in ski boots in friend's luggage (I offered to pay any fine if they got caught going through customs).
Still 2 more updates to come on tastings in Tokyo...!
Still 2 more updates to come on tastings in Tokyo...!
When at Liqors Hasegawa I did the tastings for a small price (only 70p or so!), although some other bottles are more expensive. As you would expect this only applies for cheaper bottles, but is still amazing value!
First up was Mars Cosmo. This is pretty easy to get a hold of over there, and is named after a mountain near the distillery. After this I went for the Nikka Date. This is a blend made from the Miyagikyo distillery. It is combination of malt and grain produced on coffey stills, at 43%. It is named after Date Masamune, the famous feudal warlord who ruled the area around Sendai during the 17th century. Both of these are very nice blends and easy to drink.
On the last night in Tokyo I visited the famous Bar Zoetrope. It is known for it's Japanese whisky with over 300 different bottles available. It used to be that you could get a lot of the famous drinks like Karuizawa and the Hanyu card series, but these have gone now. I guess the downside of having such a popular bar! There is more "touristy" drinkers there than the other bar I tried, which did show a bit. The prices are also more of a fair reflection on what some of the bottles are worth these days, but you can get 1/2 servings on the more expensive bottles to help keep the price down if you want to try more variety.
So, the important part! I started with the Kirin (also called Fuji Sanroku) 18yo. This is almost impossible to get outside of Japan, and I didn't see it in any of the shops there. Seems to be cheaper than the big brands 18yo versions or similar. This is the only malt produced there, as the rest are grain whiskies. It's also interesting to note Kirin were the owners of Karuizawa when it closed down... oops! I don't know if it was just me on the day, but I found it a little sharp and not as good as a lot of reviews seem to suggest. Could well just be me! I prefered the next whisky up a lot more.
Ichiro's Malt MWR (Mizunara Wood Reserve). This was a bit softer but offered more interesting tastes to me. Seems to have mixed reviews online, but I enjoyed it.
Following that was something I probably don't expect to ever see again, let alone taste! A single Cask Miyagikyo at 10yo. Cask 24268 bottled in 2015 at 55%. This was great, although you felt the high alcohol (I tend to drink whiskies neat). I think it was for the Japanese market only, but no idea as I can't find anything online about it!
The final drink of the night was a 15yo Mars Single Cask 363, probably distilled in 1986 and bottled in 2001 after it had stopped distilling. According to the owner of the bar this was the last bottle he had of Mars from before the distillery closed. It also seems to be one of the better casks of older Japanese whisky from what is reviewed online, not suffering from lots of sulphur or other issues like some of them do. Altogether a very pleasant whisky to end the trip on!
As an aside, I think some of my views on the whisky tried here might be a bit more negative that normal due to what I had tried a few days before. Which will come shortly!
First up was Mars Cosmo. This is pretty easy to get a hold of over there, and is named after a mountain near the distillery. After this I went for the Nikka Date. This is a blend made from the Miyagikyo distillery. It is combination of malt and grain produced on coffey stills, at 43%. It is named after Date Masamune, the famous feudal warlord who ruled the area around Sendai during the 17th century. Both of these are very nice blends and easy to drink.
On the last night in Tokyo I visited the famous Bar Zoetrope. It is known for it's Japanese whisky with over 300 different bottles available. It used to be that you could get a lot of the famous drinks like Karuizawa and the Hanyu card series, but these have gone now. I guess the downside of having such a popular bar! There is more "touristy" drinkers there than the other bar I tried, which did show a bit. The prices are also more of a fair reflection on what some of the bottles are worth these days, but you can get 1/2 servings on the more expensive bottles to help keep the price down if you want to try more variety.
So, the important part! I started with the Kirin (also called Fuji Sanroku) 18yo. This is almost impossible to get outside of Japan, and I didn't see it in any of the shops there. Seems to be cheaper than the big brands 18yo versions or similar. This is the only malt produced there, as the rest are grain whiskies. It's also interesting to note Kirin were the owners of Karuizawa when it closed down... oops! I don't know if it was just me on the day, but I found it a little sharp and not as good as a lot of reviews seem to suggest. Could well just be me! I prefered the next whisky up a lot more.
Ichiro's Malt MWR (Mizunara Wood Reserve). This was a bit softer but offered more interesting tastes to me. Seems to have mixed reviews online, but I enjoyed it.
Following that was something I probably don't expect to ever see again, let alone taste! A single Cask Miyagikyo at 10yo. Cask 24268 bottled in 2015 at 55%. This was great, although you felt the high alcohol (I tend to drink whiskies neat). I think it was for the Japanese market only, but no idea as I can't find anything online about it!
The final drink of the night was a 15yo Mars Single Cask 363, probably distilled in 1986 and bottled in 2001 after it had stopped distilling. According to the owner of the bar this was the last bottle he had of Mars from before the distillery closed. It also seems to be one of the better casks of older Japanese whisky from what is reviewed online, not suffering from lots of sulphur or other issues like some of them do. Altogether a very pleasant whisky to end the trip on!
As an aside, I think some of my views on the whisky tried here might be a bit more negative that normal due to what I had tried a few days before. Which will come shortly!
Edited by NRS on Thursday 4th February 09:30
Enjoyed the write up NRS. Thanks for taking the time.
I have been having a look around online and it still seems that the new Yamazaki Sherry hasn't been released in Europe yet. Strange really but hey ho.
I opened a Glemorangie Duthac that I picked on my way home. Realy nice and easy drinking dram.
I have been having a look around online and it still seems that the new Yamazaki Sherry hasn't been released in Europe yet. Strange really but hey ho.
I opened a Glemorangie Duthac that I picked on my way home. Realy nice and easy drinking dram.
krallicious said:
Enjoyed the write up NRS. Thanks for taking the time.
I have been having a look around online and it still seems that the new Yamazaki Sherry hasn't been released in Europe yet. Strange really but hey ho.
I opened a Glemorangie Duthac that I picked on my way home. Realy nice and easy drinking dram.
It's been a little strange - I saw both the 1st and 2nd of February as release dates in Japan. So it seems like it's not 100% clear when it will come out in Europe. Should be 2000 bottles for us. I have been having a look around online and it still seems that the new Yamazaki Sherry hasn't been released in Europe yet. Strange really but hey ho.
I opened a Glemorangie Duthac that I picked on my way home. Realy nice and easy drinking dram.
So, to the final part of the trip (which was not last chronologically, but has been saved for last since it was the most enjoyable for me! In reading about the different whisky bars to visit in Tokyo I had seen mention of one called Campbelltoun Loch (correct spelling), but had not planned to visit it since it was described as being very good for Scottish Malts. Absolutely nothing wrong with that, but being in Japan the main focus was going to be Japanese stuff! However on day 2 of 3 days in Tokyo I realised I was very close to it, and my friends were done for the day so I decided to keep going and drop in and see what it was like.
As described it is a very small bar! It's in the basement and you go down some narrow stairs and have to squeeze past a bunch of boxes full of whisky. This is despite all the space there is inside being dedicated to whisky bottles. The owner doesn't speak much English but was very friendly and helpful. When faced with such a wide range of whiskies I did what was recommended online and mentioned a distillery so that he could help narrow down the range. So, Glendronach it was! Just beside where I was sitting was some single cask releases which I was tempted by, but when he pulled out a 26yo Blackadder release which was distilled in 1974 and bottled in 2001 I had an easy choice. After all, plenty of time to taste the others later I thought...
However, I saw something that might be interesting on the second row of whiskies behind the bar... It was a Nikka single cask of some sort. After asking about it he asked which one, as he pulled two 1986 Single Cask releases out. Well, it would be rude not to try both! Both bottles were 22 year olds distilled in 1986 and bottled in 2008 for the French market. One was a Yoichi at 59% (cask #112112, warehouse 15) and the other a Miyagikyo at 63% (Cask #80283, warehouse 23). The Yoichi was surprisingly smokey and peaty, much nearer an Islay than any other Japanese whisky I have had. Lots of wood and bitter spiciness too. The Miyagikyo was much nearer the taste I would associate a lot of the modern aged range Yoichi products to taste like, sweeter to start with but again with a lot more wood and spiciness than from the modern stuff. I'd love to spend more time with these two on their own to really have got to know all subtle flavours and smells, but I don't imagine I'll ever see one again let alone be able to taste it! Dear goodness these are good! They also hid their alcohol levels very well, with no problems drinking them neat.
I mentioned about difference between the older Yoichi and the newer one, and the owner said there is a lot of variation since the Japanese distilleries don't tend to blend with other distilleries, but rather produce a wide range of whiskies themselves. He mentioned he had the Miyagikyo sherry cask if I wanted to try a newer expression, but that it was a little strange on the taste. That sounded interesting, so out it came from the impossible to spot place in row 3 at the side of the bar. 3000 bottles released at 48% last year. NAS of course! To be honest after the two casks before I didn't get the full benefit of tasting this one properly.
There was a couple of other Japanese whiskies hidden away (Mars and Chichibu if I remember right) but it was time to try something different. So I went for a connoisseurs choice (literally!) Ardbeg. Distilled in 1979 and bottled in 2005 at 26yo this is by far the oldest Ardbeg I have tasted. It was very smooth and mellow (perhaps the opposite of what you normally want in one), but was very enjoyable.
As someone who has enjoyed the Sauternes finishes I have tried so far I couldn't help but try the 1977 BenRiach Sauternes finish at 34yo. Delicious, even if the wood from the aging process probably hid a lot of the sauternes influence.
Apart from the Miyagikyo all of these bottles are older than me (in total age, not the important aging in the cask time). I'd hate to imagine the prices of some of them in the auction scene. So what did the total bill for this fantastic night come to? Around £40! I'd be paying more per serving for a standard Macallan here in Norway at a bar (around £12 a drink)! In reality it would have been better to drink each of these separately and appreciate just how good they were on their own, but it was an amazing whisky tasting experience.
Overall feedback from the trip:
As described it is a very small bar! It's in the basement and you go down some narrow stairs and have to squeeze past a bunch of boxes full of whisky. This is despite all the space there is inside being dedicated to whisky bottles. The owner doesn't speak much English but was very friendly and helpful. When faced with such a wide range of whiskies I did what was recommended online and mentioned a distillery so that he could help narrow down the range. So, Glendronach it was! Just beside where I was sitting was some single cask releases which I was tempted by, but when he pulled out a 26yo Blackadder release which was distilled in 1974 and bottled in 2001 I had an easy choice. After all, plenty of time to taste the others later I thought...
However, I saw something that might be interesting on the second row of whiskies behind the bar... It was a Nikka single cask of some sort. After asking about it he asked which one, as he pulled two 1986 Single Cask releases out. Well, it would be rude not to try both! Both bottles were 22 year olds distilled in 1986 and bottled in 2008 for the French market. One was a Yoichi at 59% (cask #112112, warehouse 15) and the other a Miyagikyo at 63% (Cask #80283, warehouse 23). The Yoichi was surprisingly smokey and peaty, much nearer an Islay than any other Japanese whisky I have had. Lots of wood and bitter spiciness too. The Miyagikyo was much nearer the taste I would associate a lot of the modern aged range Yoichi products to taste like, sweeter to start with but again with a lot more wood and spiciness than from the modern stuff. I'd love to spend more time with these two on their own to really have got to know all subtle flavours and smells, but I don't imagine I'll ever see one again let alone be able to taste it! Dear goodness these are good! They also hid their alcohol levels very well, with no problems drinking them neat.
I mentioned about difference between the older Yoichi and the newer one, and the owner said there is a lot of variation since the Japanese distilleries don't tend to blend with other distilleries, but rather produce a wide range of whiskies themselves. He mentioned he had the Miyagikyo sherry cask if I wanted to try a newer expression, but that it was a little strange on the taste. That sounded interesting, so out it came from the impossible to spot place in row 3 at the side of the bar. 3000 bottles released at 48% last year. NAS of course! To be honest after the two casks before I didn't get the full benefit of tasting this one properly.
There was a couple of other Japanese whiskies hidden away (Mars and Chichibu if I remember right) but it was time to try something different. So I went for a connoisseurs choice (literally!) Ardbeg. Distilled in 1979 and bottled in 2005 at 26yo this is by far the oldest Ardbeg I have tasted. It was very smooth and mellow (perhaps the opposite of what you normally want in one), but was very enjoyable.
As someone who has enjoyed the Sauternes finishes I have tried so far I couldn't help but try the 1977 BenRiach Sauternes finish at 34yo. Delicious, even if the wood from the aging process probably hid a lot of the sauternes influence.
Apart from the Miyagikyo all of these bottles are older than me (in total age, not the important aging in the cask time). I'd hate to imagine the prices of some of them in the auction scene. So what did the total bill for this fantastic night come to? Around £40! I'd be paying more per serving for a standard Macallan here in Norway at a bar (around £12 a drink)! In reality it would have been better to drink each of these separately and appreciate just how good they were on their own, but it was an amazing whisky tasting experience.
Overall feedback from the trip:
- Hard to find anything special in the shops in Japan now (at least in Tokyo). It's just a case of checking everywhere and getting lucky. Or paying silly prices, which some people clearly are doing.
- You need to go to the whisky bars to find the more special stuff. However I get the impression it will soon be very difficult to get these for a reasonable price in a lot of the bars soon. Previously bought and stored stock has helped delay this, but looking at what was available from the main distilleries it does seem they are struggling to replace it due to the current auction prices.
- Tokyo is a very good place to try nice Scottish whiskies in some of the bars!
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