u/kiwi8185

Hi all, I'm here with another Suntory whisky, and this one it's a single cask Hakushu from the SMWS!

I've been working on quite a handful of other obscure, mid-to-low shelf Suntory items, but figured doing too many in a row would be a bit stale, so here's a change of pace.

The Scotch Malt Whisky Society (SMWS) is a membership organisation based in Scotland which purchases select barrels from many different distilleries all over the world, then bottle & sell these whiskies directly to its members. Afaik, each distillery was given a number, and the number behind the period signifies the release sequence of said whisky by SMWS.

Interestingly, the SMWS also had selected barrels from many non-Scotch distilleries, including several Japanese distilleries ranging from Suntory and Nikka to even extinct distilleries like Karuizawa and Hanyu!

This bottle here is one they selected from the Hakushu distillery, and it's a heavily peated, 13 yr old Hakushu bottled at cask strength!

Details in comments!

Hi all, I'm here today with a considerably obscure whisky from Suntory with a particularly, um, interesting looking bottle- the Suntory Excellence!

The Suntory Excellence was originally created in 1971, as a direct response to a major shift in Japan's liquor import laws back in the day which made Scotch whiskies much more available.

This blended whisky with an unmistakably recognizable bottle design was released as a member of Suntory's premium whisky lineup- right above their medium-high shelfer Suntory Royal (details here, part 1/part 2), and below their then-topmost shelfer, the Suntory Imperial

It wasn't a one off experimental release either- it was Suntory's staple higher shelfer between 1971~1989, then as a less promoted mini bottle release between 1990~2004- a proud 33 year shelf history that had unfortunately mostly been forgotten today. It even had a few special decanter releases! (see pic 2, 3)

In essence, Suntory Excellence used to inhabit the same niche as the original Hibiki, and was in some ways its direct precursor!

So how does it taste? Details in comments!

Hi all, I'm here with another Suntory whisky, and this one might be the fanciest Yamazaki I've tried by far- the duty free exclusive, limited release version of the Yamazaki 25 yr!

I ran into this bottle during a liquor event I attended last weekend, where a liquor store owner & one of the biggest Japanese whisky collectors in the region brought some of his opened bottles to be available for single dram orders.

(Seriously, the guy collected the entirety of Hanyu's Poker Series and owns pretty much every single MARS whisky in existence due to his private connections to Hombo Shuzo's owner, alongside numerous other Suntory Owner's Casks and Karuizawa vintages)

Now, this specific dram was priced particularly aggressively high, and I wasn't exactly planning on getting it when I first saw it at the booth. But luckily for me, the collector was too busy socializing with other event attendees, and left the booth to be attended by who I'd assume was his grandson. The young man turned out to be a super chill guy who'll pour you 'a little extra' because you're chill with him.

All in all, I spent quite a bit too much at the booth, but in return got 'a little extra' for everything I ordered there lmao

So here's the big question of the day: How exactly does this Limited Edition Yamazaki 25 yr differ from the regular Yamazaki 25 yr? 

I've tried both the regular Yamazaki 18 yr and the duty free special Yamazaki 18 yr Limited Edition on the same sitting and noted how the two whiskies differ quite a bit in character (this post here if you're interested).

Would the Yamazaki 25 yr also be different? Details in comments!

I just came back from the Whisky Taste liquor fair held in Taoyuan, Taiwan, and hot damn I swear the event holders were trying to bankrupt me lmao

Different from the event held by the IB importer I went to yesterday (where I got the odd Fragrant Drops), this one was held at a much larger scale with even more interesting, unique items!

For a few pick ups (sorry for the photos, I couldn't take pics for everything due to the number of people around), see details in comments!

Hi all, I'm here with a rather different whisky today: this one here is an IB from Fragrant Drops, and is (allegedly) a 21 year old Japanese Blended Whisky!

I went to a pretty interesting whisky fair today, where a major IB importer had brought upwards of 300-400 different bottles of spirits, including Scotch, Irish whiskies, rums, brandies, and other whiskies available for small pour orders (or purchase in case anyone just adored the bottle). 

As per usual, I went to the event and went pretty overboard with all the interesting drams available. Among them was this pretty odd little item: a 'Japanese whisky' from a relatively new IB brand, Fragrant Drops!

Fragrant Drops is a relatively new Independent Bottling brand under the Keeble Cask Company, founded in 2020. This IB series was characterized by their special bottle design inspired by 19th-century apothecary vials and monochrome, artistic labels that somewhat reference the origin of the whisky in the bottle.

They've already got quite a number of IB releases, but this bottle here released in 2024 was their only 'Japanese' whisky release to date!

Details in Comments!

Hi all, I know I've mentioned plans to move towards writing about other brands like Nikka, but well... Here's another whisky from Suntory, and this one is a single cask, cask strength sherry Yamazaki!

This specific mini bottle was from Whisky Shop W, which was Suntory's own whisky specialist store that opened during the 2010s but unfortunately closed in 2016. 

This whisky shop operated before Suntory reached major international recognition, and as such Suntory created quite a number of special bottlings for them: including several specially vatted single malt whiskies in a fat, rotund bottle (see pic 2), as well as several cask strength, single cask whiskies like the subject of this post!

Details in comments!

Hi all, I know I've mentioned plans to move towards writing about other brands like Nikka, but well... Here's another whisky from Suntory, and this one is a single cask, cask strength sherry Yamazaki!

This specific mini bottle was from Whisky Shop W, which was Suntory's own whisky specialist store that opened during the 2010s but unfortunately closed in 2016. 

This whisky shop operated before Suntory reached major international recognition, and as such Suntory created quite a number of special bottlings for them: including several specially vatted single malt whiskies in a fat, rotund bottle (see pic 2), as well as several cask strength, single cask whiskies like the subject of this post!

Details in comments!

Hi all, this might be the dumbest and craziest of blending ideas I've done: it's one of the whisky experiments I've done lately, featuring a few Yamazaki whiskies!

Before I started writing detailed reviews on Japanese whiskies and distilleries, I've got the hobby of doing weird blending and stave experiments with some of the whiskies I own. Here's some of the rare successful experiments I did with Eagle Rare a while ago:

https://www.reddit.com/r/whiskey/comments/1o4tion/project_inject_x_into_an_eagle_rare_10_tasting/

https://www.reddit.com/r/whiskey/comments/1o77sdn/project_inject_x_into_an_eagle_rare_10_tasting/

In truth, I've still been doing a number of these odd experiments, but many of them ended up either uninterestingly mild or turned out as such failures I felt too disappointed to make detailed records for. 

These attempts include: trying to create a cheap, bootleg Hibiki-like blend with some shelfer Scotch (didn't work lmao), trying to create a fancier, higher aged bootleg Hibiki blend with fancier Scotch (*really* didn't work), or just mixing and matching some Japanese whiskies (not particularly successful).

Well here's one of the recent ideas I've got, but it's kind of a crazy one: it's got something to do with the Yamazaki 18 yr!

After tasting Suntory's various Taru-Dashi Genshus, the Tsukuriwake series and Essence of Suntory Whisky series, I went back and poured a bit of the bottle of Yamazaki 18 yr I own (2025 bottling). It was still quite good, sure, but it felt a bit... soft, in comparison to the various bolder, higher abv Suntory whiskies I've tried.

So here's the question of the day, one I'm almost 100% sure no one ever asked: how could one buff up the Yamazaki 18 yr, without sacrificing its original profile?

I brought up this topic with a few whisky friends. Most of them looked at me like I have issues, while some others were interested but also doubtful that I'd really carry through mingling with something like the Yamazaki 18 yr.

Well these folks underestimated my madness!

Details in comments!

Hi all, here's a bit of a different post today: it's one of the dumb whisky experiments I've done lately, featuring a few Yamazaki whiskies!

Before I started writing detailed reviews on Japanese whiskies and distilleries, I've got the hobby of doing weird blending and stave experiments with some of the whiskies I own. Here's one of the rare successful experiments I did with Hibiki Master's Select and Yamazakura stave from a while ago, if anyone's interested:

https://www.reddit.com/r/whiskey/comments/1omiieu/project_makeyourown_cherry_blossom_hibiki_results/ 

In truth, I've still been doing a number of these odd experiments, but many of them ended up either uninterestingly mild or turned out as such failures I felt too disappointed to make detailed records for. 

These attempts include: trying to create a cheap, bootleg Hibiki-like blend with some shelfer Scotch (didn't work lmao), trying to create a fancier, higher aged bootleg Hibiki blend with fancier Scotch (*really* didn't work), or just mixing and matching some Japanese whiskies (not particularly successful).

Well here's one of the recent ideas I've got, but it's kind of a crazy one: it's got something to do with the Yamazaki 18 yr!

After tasting Suntory's various Taru-Dashi Genshus, the Tsukuriwake series and Essence of Suntory Whisky series, I went back and poured a bit of the bottle of Yamazaki 18 yr I own (2025 bottling). It was still quite good, sure, but it felt a bit... soft, in comparison to the various bolder, higher abv Suntory whiskies I've tried.

So here's the question of the day, one I'm almost 100% sure no one ever asked: how could one buff up the Yamazaki 18 yr, without sacrificing its original profile?

I brought up this topic with a few whisky friends. Most of them looked at me like I have issues, while some others were interested but also doubtful that I'd really carry through mingling with something like the Yamazaki 18 yr.

Well these folks underestimated my madness!

Details in comments!

Hi all, here's another Scotch I tried lately, and well, it's another Macallan. 

Since I've tried a good handful of Macallan bottles thus far, the staff at our local whisky spot recommended another one they've got on their shelves- a pre- 2017 bottle of Macallan 25 yr!

Here are my notes:

Macallan 25 Years Old, pre-2017 (43% abv)

*Nose*

sweet, rich maltose;

rich, savory umami character, like a soupy stewed beef or beef bourguignon (with a bit of balsamic vinegar-like sourness);

quite concentrated, sour and sweet dried red fruity (raisins, dried pineapples);

slightly earthy powdered brown sugar;

a bit of old oak (polished antique furniture)

very gentle sulfuric character, non intrusive

*Palate*

rich, fragrant maltose with subdued sweetness;

powdery brown sugar; 

sour and lightly sweet assorted dried red fruits (dried pineapples, red raisins);

old oak (antique furniture), slightly smoky;

a bit of oaky tannin

dark chocolate earthy, slightly bitter

umami character but much less than the nose (mushroom broth)

a bit of sulfuric character

light bit of spices (nutmeg);

minimum alcohol sting, light bit of astringency

*Finish*

medium-short.

maltose fragrance;

dried red fruity;

earthy dark chocolate/cacao powder;

lightly polished old oak (antique furniture), oaky tannin;

lightly sulfuric.

The notes were pretty light/subdued.

================

*Conclusion*

Now this was a rather interesting OB from Macallan- unlike many of the fancier Macallans before and after it, this one was interesting *not* as consistent on the nose and palate!

The nose of this one was incredibly rich and savory- in fact, it was so savory it's almost more like taking a good whiff from a good pot of stewed beef with tomatoes and mushrooms, seasoned with balsamic vinegar! There's also Macallan's signature maltose, dried red fruits and old, antique furniture-like oak in supporting role, with a light bit of sulfuric character typical of 1980s-90s distilled Macallans. Quite marvelous indeed!

The palate didn't exactly match the nose- the savory/umami character took a back seat, and it was much more of a typical higher aged Macallan: maltose, assorted dried red fruits, some polished antique furniture oaky character, dark chocolate, and a bit of spices and sulfuric funk. Quite enjoyable yes, and a very, very mellow mouthfeel and profile overall. The finish was a bit disappointingly shorter than I'd like, but that seemed inevitable given the abv.

In my opinion, the other Macallan closest in character to this one would be the Macallan Oscuro, which rather makes sense: judging by the version of this bottle, I'd assume the whiskies used for it were distilled and aged in the same era as the Oscuro. The major difference being Oscuro, while slightly more simplistic, had a stronger profile and a bolder body, and did everything just as well if not better.

So overall- good and interesting whisky, but there are better ones (even better Macallans) at the same range!

I feel like I should be working on writing about other Scotch, particularly other ones I've gotten an almost unhealthy number of samples for (yep it's Springbank), buuuut... 

I recently entered a little raffle at our local whisky spot, where the winner gets to purchase 50ml samples for the *entire set* of the Macallan Harmony Collection for $200. Yes, all 12 of them, and guess who just won the raffle! 

Dang, that's a lot of Macallans to write about lmao

Thanks for reading, cheers!

Hi all, here's another Scotch I tried lately, and well, it's another Macallan. 

Since I've tried a good handful of Macallan bottles thus far, the staff at our local whisky spot recommended another one they've got on their shelves- a pre- 2017 bottle of Macallan 25 yr!

Here are my notes:

Macallan 25 Years Old, pre-2017 (43% abv)

*Nose*

sweet, rich maltose;

rich, savory umami character, like a soupy stewed beef or beef bourguignon (with a bit of balsamic vinegar-like sourness);

quite concentrated, sour and sweet dried red fruity (raisins, dried pineapples);

slightly earthy powdered brown sugar;

a bit of old oak (polished antique furniture)

very gentle sulfuric character, non intrusive

*Palate*

rich, fragrant maltose with subdued sweetness;

powdery brown sugar; 

sour and lightly sweet assorted dried red fruits (dried pineapples, red raisins);

old oak (antique furniture), slightly smoky;

a bit of oaky tannin

dark chocolate earthy, slightly bitter

umami character but much less than the nose (mushroom broth)

a bit of sulfuric character

light bit of spices (nutmeg);

minimum alcohol sting, light bit of astringency

*Finish*

medium-short.

maltose fragrance;

dried red fruity;

earthy dark chocolate/cacao powder;

lightly polished old oak (antique furniture), oaky tannin;

lightly sulfuric.

The notes were pretty light/subdued.

================

*Conclusion*

Now this was a rather interesting OB from Macallan- unlike many of the fancier Macallans before and after it, this one was interesting *not* as consistent on the nose and palate!

The nose of this one was incredibly rich and savory- in fact, it was so savory it's almost more like taking a good whiff from a good pot of stewed beef with tomatoes and mushrooms, seasoned with balsamic vinegar! There's also Macallan's signature maltose, dried red fruits and old, antique furniture-like oak in supporting role, with a light bit of sulfuric character typical of 1980s-90s distilled Macallans. Quite marvelous indeed!

The palate didn't exactly match the nose- the savory/umami character took a back seat, and it was much more of a typical higher aged Macallan: maltose, assorted dried red fruits, some polished antique furniture oaky character, dark chocolate, and a bit of spices and sulfuric funk. Quite enjoyable yes, and a very, very mellow mouthfeel and profile overall. The finish was a bit disappointingly shorter than I'd like, but that seemed inevitable given the abv.

In my opinion, the other Macallan closest in character to this one would be the Macallan Oscuro, which rather makes sense: judging by the version of this bottle, I'd assume the whiskies used for it were distilled and aged in the same era as the Oscuro. The major difference being Oscuro, while slightly more simplistic, had a stronger profile and a bolder body, and did everything just as well if not better.

So overall- good and interesting whisky, but there are better ones (even better Macallans) at the same range!

I feel like I should be working on writing about other Scotch, particularly other ones I've gotten an almost unhealthy number of samples for (yep it's Springbank), buuuut... 

I recently entered a little raffle at our local whisky spot, where the winner gets to purchase 50ml samples for the *entire set* of the Macallan Harmony Collection for $200. Yes, all 12 of them, and guess who just won the raffle! 

Dang, that's a lot of Macallans to write about lmao

Thanks for reading, cheers!

Oh boy, look what I found!

A couple of days ago, I struck up a conversation with another patron at one of the whisky bars I visit occasionally. Turns out the guy was a whisky scalper collector who had been in the whisky business for more than a decade, before Japanese whiskies' prices went stupidly high.

He told me he got a few bottles he's considering letting go of, including a bunch of Yoichi 12s, the Suntory Tsukuriwake 2020, Suntory Tsukuriwake 2022, Hakushu Sherry Casks 2012~2014, and a few SMWS bottles. What happened next is pretty self explanatory lmao.

I picked the Hakushu Sherry Cask 2013 because I tried the 2014 version a few times and liked it quite a lot, and got quite curious about how a different year's compare.

The SMWS 120.7 is a 14 year old, single cask, Bota Corta Sherry Cask Hakushu bottled at cask strength! It's a bit of a polarizing bottle from what I've read, where people either loved the crap out of it or found it too strong and unbalanced. Definitely cracking that open to find out for myself when I find the right occasion!

Prices are not particularly friendly, but I got both of these for the price of what I've seen a single Hakushu Sherry Cask Owner's Cask go for in a store. I guess that's a win, somewhat!

Cheers!

Hi all, here's another Suntory whisky, and this time it's a Hakushu from the Taru-Dashi Genshu series!

To very briefly sum up the series: The Taru-Dashi Genshu series, which translates to "original whisky from the barrel", were some of Suntory's many special releases during the whisky glut of the 1990s. They were essentially vatted Yamazaki and Hakushu whiskies which were bottled at cask strength!

I've written about a few other whiskies from this series in the past, such as:

Yamazaki Pure Malt Taru-Dashi Sherry Cask & Sherry Cask 12 yr

Yamazaki Pure Malt 12 yr Mini Barrel (kind of a precursor/special version release)

Yamazaki Pure Malt Taru-Dashi Genshu 15 yr 

This is another whisky from the series, but this one's from the Hakushu Distillery!

Details in Comments!

Hi all, here's another Suntory whisky, and this time it's a Hakushu from the Taru-Dashi Genshu series!

To very briefly sum up the series: The Taru-Dashi Genshu series, which translates to "original whisky from the barrel", were some of Suntory's many special releases during the whisky glut of the 1990s. They were essentially vatted Yamazaki and Hakushu whiskies which were bottled at cask strength!

I've written about a few other whiskies from this series in the past, such as:

Yamazaki Pure Malt Taru-Dashi Sherry Cask & Sherry Cask 12 yr

Yamazaki Pure Malt 12 yr Mini Barrel (kind of a precursor/special version release)

Yamazaki Pure Malt Taru-Dashi Genshu 15 yr 

This is another whisky from the series, but this one's from the Hakushu Distillery!

Details in Comments!

Hi all, here's another Suntory whisky, and would you know it, it's another cask strength Yamazaki from the Taru-Dashi Genshu series!

I've written about Suntory's Taru-Dashi Genshu series in the past, but here's the recap:

The Taru-Dashi Genshu series, which literally translates to "original whisky from the barrel", was one of Suntory's many special releases during the whisky glut of the 1990s. Back in the day, one could make a phone call or write a letter to the Yamazaki or Hakushu distillery, and have these cask strength Yamazaki or Hakushu whiskies delivered to their doorsteps right around holiday season (such as new year or Obon).

This one here is a cask strength, 15 year old Yamazaki from that era!

Details in comments!

Hi all, here's another Suntory whisky, and would you know it, it's another cask strength Yamazaki from the Taru-Dashi Genshu series!

I've written about Suntory's Taru-Dashi Genshu series in the past, but here's the recap:

The Taru-Dashi Genshu series, which literally translates to "original whisky from the barrel", was one of Suntory's many special releases during the whisky glut of the 1990s. Back in the day, one could make a phone call or write a letter to the Yamazaki or Hakushu distillery, and have these cask strength Yamazaki or Hakushu whiskies delivered to their doorsteps right around holiday season (such as new year or Obon).

This one here is a cask strength, 15 year old Yamazaki from that era!

Details in comments!

Hi all, here's another Suntory whisky, and would you know it, it's another cask strength Yamazaki from the Taru-Dashi Genshu series!

I've written about Suntory's Taru-Dashi Genshu series in the past, but here's the recap:

The Taru-Dashi Genshu series, which literally translates to "original whisky from the barrel", was one of Suntory's many special releases during the whisky glut of the 1990s. Back in the day, one could make a phone call or write a letter to the Yamazaki or Hakushu distillery, and have these cask strength Yamazaki or Hakushu whiskies delivered to their doorsteps right around holiday season (such as new year or Obon).

This one here is a cask strength, 15 year old Yamazaki from that era!

Details in comments!

Hi all, I'm here with a rather interesting whisky- a special collaboration whisky between two younger Japanese distilleries, Saburomaru and Kanosuke!

Since a few years ago, many of the younger Japanese distilleries have been doing special "cask exchange" collaborations. Here's a brief example: distillery A would send some of their casks to their partner distillery B. The A casks would be aged in B's cellars, and later B's blenders would vat the A casks with some of their own whiskies to create a special "Double Distillery" release. Similarly, distillery B would also send some of their casks to distillery A, and the same procedure would be carried out on A's side.

Past participants of similar cask exchange collaborations include (in pairs): MARS' Komagatake x Chichibu, MARS Tsunuki x Akkeshi, Nagahama x Nishida, and now, Saburomaru x Komagatake!

I've written a bit about Kanosuke in the past (such as their 2024 festival special release or their Hioki Pot Still whiskies). 

Here's a bit about the Saburomaru Distillery: they're a medium sized sake brewery & distillery from Toyama, Japan. They received their whisky distillation license all the way back in 1952, but only really became focused on building a name for their whiskies internationally since the late 2010s, where they revamped their distillery and began working on a new focus for their whiskies: peat.

They've been making some of Japan's heaviest peated whiskies with peat imported from Islay (with peat levels of 30~80 ppm), with several of their peated whiskies earning recognition in WWA!

Typically, Kanosuke's whiskies have mellow malty, sweet and fruity profiles, while Saburomaru's whiskies have heavy to very heavy peat characters. This bottle here is the collab release from Saburomaru's side! 

Details in comments!

Hi all, I'm here with a rather interesting whisky- a special collaboration whisky between two younger Japanese distilleries, Saburomaru and Kanosuke!

Since a few years ago, many of the younger Japanese distilleries have been doing special "cask exchange" collaborations. Here's a brief example: distillery A would send some of their casks to their partner distillery B. The A casks would be aged in B's cellars, and later B's blenders would vat the A casks with some of their own whiskies to create a special "Double Distillery" release. Similarly, distillery B would also send some of their casks to distillery A, and the same procedure would be carried out on A's side.

Past participants of similar cask exchange collaborations include (in pairs): MARS' Komagatake x Chichibu, MARS Tsunuki x Akkeshi, Nagahama x Nishida, and now, Saburomaru x Komagatake!

I've written a bit about Kanosuke in the past (such as their 2024 festival special release or their Hioki Pot Still whiskies). 

Here's a bit about the Saburomaru Distillery: they're a medium sized sake brewery & distillery from Toyama, Japan. They received their whisky distillation license all the way back in 1952, but only really became focused on building a name for their whiskies internationally since the late 2010s, where they revamped their distillery and began working on a new focus for their whiskies: peat.

They've been making some of Japan's heaviest peated whiskies with peat imported from Islay (with peat levels of 30~80 ppm), with several of their peated whiskies earning recognition in WWA!

Typically, Kanosuke's whiskies have mellow malty, sweet and fruity profiles, while Saburomaru's whiskies have heavy to very heavy peat characters. This bottle here is the collab release from Saburomaru's side! 

Details in comments!