Japanese Single Malt
With distilleries across the whole country, Japan produces a wide variety of single malts - from rich and peaty, to light and floral, and even fresh and fruity.
Humble Beginnings
The early years of Japanese whisky are dominated by two men: Masataka Taketsuru and Shinjiro Torii. Taketsuru was famously sent to Scotland in 1918 to learn about whisky-making, studying in Glasgow and getting hands-on experience in Speyside and Campbeltown before returning to Japan with a head full of facts and a Scottish wife.
When he joined forces with Torii in about 1921, Taketsuru’s vision was to build a distillery on the remote northern island of Hokkaido – the part of the country he thought most mirrored Scotland. However, Torii feared this was too far from the main markets of central Honshu, vetoed the idea and instead built Yamazaki on the outskirts of Kyoto in 1923.
Taketsuru swallowed his reservations and worked as Yamazaki’s first distillery manager before leaving in 1934 to strike out on his own and finally realise his dream: the building of the Yoichi distillery on Hokkaido.
Eighty years later, the companies founded by Torii and Taketsuru – Suntory and Nikka respectively – still dominate the Japanese whisky industry. But, unlike the twin monoliths of Scotch whisky, Diageo and Pernod Ricard, they don’t have dozens of distilleries, but only four between them.
CHAMELEONS OF DISTILLATION
While Scotland took centuries to build up a critical mass of about 100 malt distilleries, all with subtly different styles, Japan wanted to move faster, and with just a small number of sites. What’s more, Suntory and Nikka don’t trade whisky with each other – which, as in Scotland, would increase their blending options.
What developed was a very different model of distillation: plants like Yamazaki which produce a multiplicity of styles thanks to an eclectic collection of still shapes and sizes, plus a range of peated/unpeated barley, different yeast strains, fermentations, cut points – not to mention a number of cask options including the distinctive mizunara or Japanese oak.
These chameleons of distillation – Suntory stablemate Hakushu and Nikka’s two plants, Yoichi and Miyagikyou, follow a broadly similar philosophy – play havoc with the notion of ‘single’ malt, and yet there is a common thread that unites their bottlings, from Yamazaki’s floral roundness to Hakushu’s precision; and from Miyagikyou’s spiced fruit to Yoichi’s heavy smoke.
Typical Character and Style of Japanese Single Malt
Honeysuckle
Toffee
Orange
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£10Hakushu Distiller's Reserve
£59.75
(£85.36 per litre)
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£70Chichibu Red Wine Cask 2023
£165
(£235.71 per litre)
Yamazaki 18 Year OldGift Box
£600
(£857.14 per litre)
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£10Yamazaki 12 Year Old
£129
(£184.29 per litre)
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£50.05Kanosuke Single Malt 2023 Limited Edition
£99.95
(£142.79 per litre)
Yamazaki Distiller's Reserve
£80.95
(£115.64 per litre)
Yoichi Single Malt
£77.25
(£110.36 per litre)
Miyagikyo Single Malt
£77.25
(£110.36 per litre)
Fuji Single Malt Whisky
£71.75
(£102.50 per litre)
Kanosuke Single Malt
£89.95
(£128.50 per litre)
Hakushu 12 Year Old100th Anniversary
£199
(£284.29 per litre)
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£50Yamazaki Golden PromiseTsukuriwake 2024
£400
(£571.43 per litre)
Yamazaki 12 Year Old100th Anniversary
£199
(£284.29 per litre)
Matsui MizunaraKurayoshi Distillery
£138
(£197.14 per litre)
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£200Yamazaki 18 Year Old MizunaraTsukuriwake 2024
£1,400
(£2,000 per litre)
Chichibu London Edition 2021
£500
(£714.29 per litre)
Yamazaki Islay PeatedTsukuriwake 2024
£450
(£642.86 per litre)
Kanosuke Single Malt 2022 Limited Edition
£150
(£214.29 per litre)
Akashi Single Malt Whisky
£69.25
(£138.50 per litre)
Matsui SakuraKurayoshi Distillery
£143
(£204.29 per litre)
Yamazakura Asaka Single Malt2023 Release
£123
(£175.71 per litre)
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£250Hakushu 18 Year Old Peated Malt100th Anniversary
£1,100
(£1,571.43 per litre)
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£20Mars Komagatake EditionBot.2021
£117
(£167.14 per litre)
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£40Shizuoka Contact S Single Malt3 Year Old
£110
(£157.14 per litre)