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In many nations, a fifty-five-year bottle of whiskey is a rare vintage, expensive, but obtainable. But in the world of Japanese whiskey, it is as rare as an eighty-year vintage would be in Scotland or the US. That provides the appropriate context to understand the gravity of the release about to come from the Suntory Yamazaki distillery: the Yamazaki 55, the oldest single-malt whiskey ever to be offered by the iconic Suntory brand, Japan’s first whiskey distiller.
Japanese whiskey has some key differentiators between American whiskey, bourbon, rye, or scotch. It truly is an animal all its own. Japanese whiskeys as a whole tend to be more versatile owing to the less stringent requirements from Tokyo regulators as to the mash type and blending requirements.
G. Clay Whittaker wrote for Men’s Journal,
“Yamazaki 55 comprises individual casks of Japanese single malt from 1960 and 1964, the former aged in Japanese Mizunara oak and the latter aged in more common white oak casks. The pedigree of this whisky is amazing: it was distilled when the founder was still alive and has been carefully watched by several generations of master blenders.”
Chief Blender Shinji Fukuyo, a fifth-generation whiskey master told the press, “Throughout the process of blending Yamazaki 55, I used as inspiration the passage of time and ‘Wabi-sabi’—the Japanese belief that imperfections can help to ultimately contribute to perfection,” explained Fukuyo. “While I often view other extra aged whiskies as art, I consider Yamazaki 55 to be more like a Buddhist statue: calm and mysterious, requiring time to truly enjoy the inner beauty.”
Let’s Hear About The Yamazaki Whiskey!
Granted, you and I are probably not going to get to drink this whiskey because, as described earlier, even at a 55-year age it is ridiculously rare. At 46% ABV there’s certainly a bit of a kick there, but the tasting notes have been described as “lush with well-ripened fruit and sandalwood on the nose”, according to Suntory, the official notes are “intense woody character from the mizunara before a finish of smoke”. It sounds intense to be sure.
As far as the packaging is concerned, the Suntory Yamazaki 55 is delivered in a beautiful mizunara
box with a traditional Kyoto Kyo-kumihimo plaited cord. Presentation means a lot when we’re talking about the most elite and expensive drams in the world and Suntory hasn’t disappointed here.
Suntory by the way, for the uninitiated, isn’t just a massive Japanese brand anymore. The eldest of all nectars for Nipponophiles has over the years acquired Jim Beam, Booker’s, and Maker’s Mark…wow. It’s probably time the whiskey world showed the Japanese brands a bit more respect.
