Yamazaki Golden Promise is a single malt made entirely from Golden Promise barley and aged in American oak. It is one of four whiskies in Suntory's 2024 Tsukuriwake Series, bottled at 48%.
About This Whisky
Golden Promise is a barley variety first cultivated in Scotland in the 1960s, valued for its flavour and malting quality but since largely replaced by higher-yielding strains. Yamazaki has distilled it since 2009. Suntory says it gives a maltier, richer Yamazaki, suited to longer ageing, and it has already been added to Yamazaki 12 Year Old for its deep, rounded flavour. Tsukuriwake translates as "artisanship through a diversity of making". The 2024 series moved the focus from casks to ingredients and peat, and this bottle is the barley chapter.
Tasting Profile
- Nose: Barley gold. Sweet malt, vanilla and honey.
- Palate: Rich and full, with orange marmalade and custard.
- Finish: Sweet and fruity with citrus, long and lasting.
Serving & Food
Pour it neat at room temperature into a copita and let the malt come forward; a few drops of water bring out the marmalade. Try it with hotate butter-yaki, a custard tart or a mild washed-rind cheese.
How to Enjoy
Anyone curious about how barley variety changes a whisky, especially when tasted beside a Yamazaki 12.
Product Details
Producer: Suntory
Distillery: Yamazaki
Series: Tsukuriwake Selection 2024
Country: Japan
Region: Osaka Prefecture
Style: Japanese single malt whisky
Barley: 100% Golden Promise
Cask: American oak
Age: No age statement
ABV: 48%
Volume: 700mL
About the Distillery
Shinji Fukuyo is Suntory's fifth-generation chief blender, and the Tsukuriwake series is his project. Earlier editions looked closely at casks. For 2024 he chose to highlight the other decisions that shape Yamazaki and Hakushu: which grain, how much peat and what wood.
The idea is that a blender's work starts long before vatting. By releasing single components such as this Golden Promise malt, Suntory lets drinkers taste the building blocks Fukuyo uses in the core range.