Japanese Whisky reviews

Neat at Barcelo Madrid Tower Hotel. It pours clean dark golden, some amber highlights. Aroma is very intense and sweet: vanilla, crème brûlée, pudding, caramel: all that. Some red hot pepper and tobacco…

I’m a real fan of japanese whiskey, it is a shame age statements have become so expensive. The Hibiki 17 was a wonderful expression when it was available for £70ish and the nikka 12 is one i continue to…

Beautiful 50 cl bottle that looks like a perfume's. Inside it the whisky looks much darker, but once poured it is dark wheat with some greenish highlights. Aroma is very intense and sweetish: cookies,…

When this bottle appeared in May 2017, the price tag read 10.000 yen. That’s about 80 EUR. Today, you’ll need to cough up at least double, which is a shame. Thanks to some good friends I was able to add…

Every year – since 2014 –Yamazaki releases its so-called Limited Edition. At the time of release they cost about 100 EUR – which seems a fair price indeed – but they soon sell out and then reach more…

Ichiro Akuto founded the Chichibu Distillery as recently as 2008, but his family has been involved in distilling sprits since the 17th Century. In 1941 his grandfather was the founder of the now closed…

Nagahama Bewery – in the Shiga Prefecture, smack in the middle of Honshu near Lake Biwa and Mount Ibuki – is famous for its Nagahama Roman Beer. When their team visited Eden Mill Distillery in Scotland…

Hombo Shuzo Company opened her Mars Shinshu Distillery already in 1985 (however closed from 1992 until 2011) and recently opened a second distillery: Mars Tsunuki. It is the southern most Japanese dis…

Nirasaki Distillery? Errr… never heard of ‘m. This might be one of those unknown Japanese distilleries – at the foot of Mount Fuji, the marketeers say – of which you can hardly find any info online. Does…

Japanese whisky is still booming. With Japanese regulations full of holes it does not come as a surprise that some people take advantage. Matsui Shozo promotes their Kurayoshi as Japanese whisky, but it…