A single Spanish oak sherry butt from Suntory's Yamazaki Distillery, filled in January 1990 and bottled in October 2007 under The Cask of Yamazaki label. It went into the bottle undiluted at 59% ABV, and the cask gave 477 bottles.
About This Whisky
The Cask of Yamazaki bottlings each come from one cask, released at full strength and without blending into the house range. Cask #OM70174 is a Spanish oak butt that had held sherry, and it spent close to eighteen years in Yamazaki's warehouses before bottling, so the age statement reads 17 years. European oak of this kind gives more tannin and darker colour than American oak, and Yamazaki's damp valley air pushes that extraction along faster than a Scottish warehouse would. Expect a deep mahogany whisky with real grip.
Tasting Profile
- Nose: Dried fig, prunes, dark chocolate and roasted coffee bean, with old polished oak and a thread of incense.
- Palate: Dense and oily. Black fruit and cocoa first, then clove, walnut and furniture polish carried by the cask strength.
- Finish: Long and dark, with raisin, sandalwood and a firm, drying oak spice that lingers.
Serving & Food
Pour a small measure into a tulip glass at room temperature and let it rest a while before the first sip. At 59% a little water helps, added a few drops at a time. Try it after dinner with 70% dark chocolate, aged Comté or a plate of dried dates and walnuts.
How to Enjoy
A serious sherry-cask Yamazaki for a Japanese whisky cabinet, or a gift that marks a birth year or a milestone from 1990.
Product Details
Distillery: Yamazaki (Suntory), Japan
Series: The Cask of Yamazaki
Distilled / Bottled: January 1990 / October 2007
Age: 17 years old
Cask: Spanish oak sherry butt #OM70174
Outturn: 477 bottles
ABV: 59%
Volume: 700mL
Country: Japan
About the Distillery
Shinjiro Torii, who had founded his wine business in Osaka in 1899, began building Yamazaki in 1923. It was the first malt whisky distillery in Japan, and distillation started the following year. Torii wanted whisky suited to Japanese taste rather than a copy of Scotch, and he chose a site with a climate quite unlike Scotland's.
The distillery sits at the foot of Mount Tennozan on the south-western edge of Kyoto, in what is now Shimamoto in Osaka Prefecture. It remains Suntory's home distillery and the source of the Yamazaki single malts.