Yamazaki cask #4R70005 is a 1994 Spanish oak sherry butt, bottled in 2007 at 60% ABV through Suntory's Owner's Cask programme. It is a 13-year-old single malt, drawn from one cask with no blending or dilution.
About This Whisky
The Owner's Cask scheme let a private buyer take a whole cask, so each bottling carries its own number rather than a range name. This one was distilled in 1994 and filled into a butt of Spanish oak that had been seasoned with sherry. After around thirteen years it was bottled in 2007, giving 477 numbered bottles at cask strength. Thirteen years is young for a sherry butt in Scotland, but Yamazaki's warm summers and wet air mean the wood does its work quickly, and this cask arrives dark and fully flavoured.
Tasting Profile
- Nose: Stewed plum, raisin and sandalwood, then cocoa, clove and a lift of dried orange peel.
- Palate: Big and concentrated: black cherry, sultana and malt loaf, followed by hot oak spice from the high strength.
- Finish: Long, spicy and sweet-sour, with dried fruit and polished wood holding on well after the swallow.
Serving & Food
Serve neat at around 18°C in a Glencairn, and taste it once before deciding on water; a teaspoon brings out the fruit. It stands up well to rich food such as braised beef cheek, Peking duck with plum sauce, or a slice of fruit cake.
How to Enjoy
Drinkers who like big, dark sherry casks, and Japanese whisky collections that follow the Owner's Cask series cask by cask.
Product Details
Distillery / Producer: Yamazaki / Suntory, Japan
Series: The Owner's Cask
Vintage / Bottling: Distilled 1994, bottled 2007
Age: 13 years
Cask: Spanish oak sherry butt #4R70005
Outturn: 477 bottles
ABV: 60%
Volume: 700mL
Country: Japan
About the Distillery
Yamazaki lies where three rivers, the Katsura, the Uji and the Kizu, run together between Mount Tennozan and Mount Otokoyama. The meeting of the rivers keeps the valley misty and humid for much of the year, and the swing between hot summers and cold winters drives spirit in and out of the oak.
Suntory credits that climate for the speed and depth of maturation at the site, and the local water is known for its softness. The combination is why young Yamazaki casks often taste older than their age statement.
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