u/kiwi8185

Hi all, I'm here with a few whiskies from Sakurao, specifically some of their single cask whiskies! 

I've written a bit about the Sakurao Distillery when writing about their other products (such as some Togouchis and Miyanoshika), but here's a recap:

Sakurao started out as a sake brewery in Hiroshima, and had been operating since 1918. In 2017, around the 99th anniversary of their founding, they decided to take a huge leap of faith into the liquor market by starting their own distillery.

They've had some scandal regarding 'fake' Japanese whiskies in the past, where they blended mystery sourced whiskies with Japanese water and slapped a 'Japanese whisky' label on them to be sold to foreign markets. But that's in the past now, as they have ceased with this behavior since the founding of the JSLMA.

Nowadays, they're a real, JSLMA abiding distillery that primarily focus on a wide variety of cask aged single malts & cask finished blended whiskies, both peated and non-peated.

Their main products these days are their Sakurao single malts (aged in their Sakurao cellar by the sea, often with a hint of salinity) and their Togouchi single malts (aged in a former JR tunnel in the mountains, often with gentle fruitiness). Both of these are distilled in Sakurao's distillery in Hiroshima, but are aged in different cellars.

I got these Sakurao drams when I attended a Japanese whisky event in Taiwan a while ago.  Since they're all Sakurao, I figured U could group them together in a single post instead of writing them one by one!

Details in comments!

Hi all, I'm here with a few whiskies from Sakurao, specifically some of their single cask whiskies! 

I've written a bit about the Sakurao Distillery when writing about their other products (such as some Togouchis and Miyanoshika), but here's a recap:

Sakurao started out as a sake brewery in Hiroshima, and had been operating since 1918. In 2017, around the 99th anniversary of their founding, they decided to take a huge leap of faith into the liquor market by starting their own distillery.

They've had some scandal regarding 'fake' Japanese whiskies in the past, where they blended mystery sourced whiskies with Japanese water and slapped a 'Japanese whisky' label on them to be sold to foreign markets. But that's in the past now, as they have ceased with this behavior since the founding of the JSLMA.

Nowadays, they're a real, JSLMA abiding distillery that primarily focus on a wide variety of cask aged single malts & cask finished blended whiskies, both peated and non-peated.

Their main products these days are their Sakurao single malts (aged in their Sakurao cellar by the sea, often with a hint of salinity) and their Togouchi single malts (aged in a former JR tunnel in the mountains, often with gentle fruitiness). Both of these are distilled in Sakurao's distillery in Hiroshima, but are aged in different cellars.

I got these Sakurao drams when I attended a Japanese whisky event in Taiwan a while ago.  Since they're all Sakurao, I figured U could group them together in a single post instead of writing them one by one!

Details in comments!

These are readily available in Austrlia at a MSRP of $500 AUD ($356) a bottle!

Call your Aussie friends and have them grab these before they're gone!

Pics taken by my Aussie friend, I ordered these via online store and they were shipped to his place. I'll have to pick them up from his place some time down the line lmao

Hi all, I'm here with more Suntory whisky, and this one the third and final bottle from their first "Essence of Suntory Whisky" release!

As written in a prior post, the "Essence of Suntory Whisky" were a series of special releases from Suntory, featuring experimental and atypical whiskies from each of their distilleries. 

The first release of this series from 2018, with the motif 創・遊・夢 (Creation, Fun/Journey, Dream), featuring the Hakushu Rye Type, the Red Wine Cask Chita, and finally this bottle here- Yamazaki Peated Malt!

Details in comments!

(Something was weird with the pic upload, sorry for reposting)

Hi all, I'm here with more Suntory whisky, and this one the third and final bottle from their first "Essence of Suntory Whisky" release!

As written in a prior post, the "Essence of Suntory Whisky" were a series of special releases from Suntory, featuring experimental and atypical whiskies from each of their distilleries. 

The first release of this series from 2018, with the motif 創・遊・夢 (Creation, Fun/Journey, Dream), featuring the Hakushu Rye Type, the Red Wine Cask Chita, and finally this bottle here- Yamazaki Peated Malt!

Details in comments!

Hi all, I'm here with more Suntory whisky, and this one the third and final bottle from their first "Essence of Suntory Whisky" release!

As written in a prior post, the "Essence of Suntory Whisky" were a series of special releases from Suntory, featuring experimental and atypical whiskies from each of their distilleries. 

The first release of this series from 2018, with the motif 創・遊・夢 (Creation, Fun/Journey, Dream), featuring the Hakushu Rye Type, the Red Wine Cask Chita, and finally this bottle here- Yamazaki Peated Malt!

Details in comments!

Recently, I visited one of the whisky specialist shops I've been to before and ran into the shop doing a special sale for some older and somewhat dilapidated mini bottles. The owner of the store said he had recently attended a clearance sale, and got himself hundreds of these minis.

The era and condition of these minis vary rather wildly, with the oldest ones dating back to the 1980s (such as the Canadian Club 12 yr and the really dilapidated Suntory Old in pic 2), and most of the rest from around the 2000s.

The most surprising finds has to be the Suntory Reserve 15 yr (which I wrote about yesterday) and the Booker's. Didn't even know Booker's made a mini! The proof point on the bottle was 126.9 proof, which I suspect to be Batch #C02-A-18.

I've never seen a Basil Hayden with the 8 yr age statement before, looking forward to trying that one!

The rest of the bottles in pic 1 were tag-on with the Booker's and Basil Hayden. I'm getting bad vibes from the Canadian Company bottle lmao. The older Johnnie Walker Red from around the 1990s was a freebie.

Anyways I think I've got a good few items to try in the next while, cheers!

Hi all, I'm here with more Suntory whisky, and this time it's a rather obscure version of their blended whisky Suntory Reserve!

Created in 1969, the Suntory Reserve is the third and final member of Suntory's long lasting low to mid shelfer staples, situated above the Suntory Old (details here) but below the Suntory Royals (details part 1, part 2).

Suntory Reserve had a distinct feature- where the Suntory Old series were a blended whisky with focus on (typically younger) Yamazaki sherry casks, the Suntory Reserve series (specifically the 1989~ versions) were a blended whisky with focus on Hakushu casks (particularly white oak). As for the Suntory Royals, well, they were more or less a blend of every Yamazaki and Hakushu casks that didn't make the cut to become single malts or Hibiki. 

This specific Suntory Reserve is one of the rarer, age statement versions released around the 2000s, and contained Suntory whiskies (primarily Hakushu and Chita) as old as 15 years of age!

Details in Comments!

Hi all, I'm here with more Suntory whisky, and this time it's a rather obscure version of their blended whisky Suntory Reserve!

Created in 1969, the Suntory Reserve is the third and final member of Suntory's long lasting low to mid shelfer staples, situated above the Suntory Old (details here) but below the Suntory Royals (details part 1, part 2).

Suntory Reserve had distinct feature- where the Suntory Old series were a blended whisky with focus on (typically younger) Yamazaki sherry casks, the Suntory Reserve series (specifically the 1989~ versions) were a blended whisky with focus on Hakushu casks (particularly white oak). As for the Suntory Royals, well, they were more or less a blend of every Yamazaki and Hakushu casks that didn't make the cut to become single malts or Hibiki. 

This specific Suntory Reserve is one of the rarer, age statement versions released around the 2000s, and contained Suntory whiskies (primarily Hakushu and Chita) as old as 15 years of age!

Details in Comments!

Hi all, I'm here with more Suntory whisky, and this time it's a rather obscure version of their blended whisky Suntory Reserve!

Created in 1969, the Suntory Reserve is the third and final member of Suntory's long lasting low to mid shelfer staples, situated above the Suntory Old (details here) but below the Suntory Royals (details part 1, part 2).

Suntory Reserve had distinct feature- where the Suntory Old series were a blended whisky with focus on (typically younger) Yamazaki sherry casks, the Suntory Reserve series (specifically the 1989~ versions) were a blended whisky with focus on Hakushu casks (particularly white oak). As for the Suntory Royals, well, they were more or less a blend of every Yamazaki and Hakushu casks that didn't make the cut to become single malts or Hibiki. 

This specific Suntory Reserve is one of the rarer, age statement versions released around the 2000s, and contained Suntory whiskies (primarily Hakushu and Chita) as old as 15 years of age!

Details in Comments!

Hi all, I'm here with more Suntory whisky, and this one is their very regular NAS Chita!

I got this bottle primarily for experimental purposes. A few friends and I are planning to do a series of blending experiments some time in the near future, and are considering a base whisky for the blending. 

Originally we're more leaning towards grabbing a Toki, but somehow all the Tokis in the various liquor shops I've visited have sold out. I guess I had to make a compromise and go for Chita instead lmao.

I'm just going to skip to the conclusion and say don't get this one, it's not good.

Details in comments anyways!

Hi all, I'm here with more Suntory whisky, and it's another interesting whisky from their experimental "Essence of Suntory Whisky" Series!

This one here is another bottle from the first 'The Essence of Suntory Whisky' release, and it's the Chita bottle from the series!

Here's a bit of background on the Chita:

The Chita Distillery, located on the Chita Peninsula, had been the quiet backbone of Suntory's many blended products since its completion in 1973.  The most notable things about the distillery were that it *exclusively* used corn as raw material to produce distillates, and of course its gigantic continuous still (pic 3 for the still's model, one of the four columns).

Chita's continuous still, standing at a height of 30 meters (98 ft), was internally fitted with multiple specialized columns (wash column, extraction column, rectifying column, and purifying column) for distillation. Without getting into too much detail, three main types of corn distillates were produced from the still, utilizing a combination of different columns. The distillates, classified as heavy, medium and light, were then filled into casks (mostly white oak but also a few in sherry casks) and shipped to Yamazaki or Hakushu's cellars for aging.

Typically, Chita's corn distillates serve as the basis of Suntory's blended whisky products, such as Suntory Old, Suntory Reserve, Suntory Royal, Toki, and the fancier blends like the Hibikis. They have also released the NAS Chita Single Grain Whisky as a staple shelfer, though that one didn't typically garner the same fanfare as Suntory's single malts or blended Hibikis.

Back to the whisky- this Essence of Suntory Whisky bottle was one of the very few high aged Chita releases, with a  wine cask finish!

Details in comments!

Hi all, I'm here with more Suntory whisky, and it's another interesting whisky from their experimental "Essence of Suntory Whisky" Series!

This one here is another bottle from the first 'The Essence of Suntory Whisky' release, and it's the Chita bottle from the series!

Here's a bit of background on the Chita:

The Chita Distillery, located on the Chita Peninsula, had been the quiet backbone of Suntory's many blended products since its completion in 1973.  The most notable things about the distillery were that it *exclusively* used corn as raw material to produce distillates, and of course its gigantic continuous still (pic 3 for the still's model, one of the four columns).

Chita's continuous still, standing at a height of 30 meters (98 ft), was internally fitted with multiple specialized columns (wash column, extraction column, rectifying column, and purifying column) for distillation. Without getting into too much detail, three main types of corn distillates were produced from the still, utilizing a combination of different columns. The distillates, classified as heavy, medium and light, were then filled into casks (mostly white oak but also a few in sherry casks) and shipped to Yamazaki or Hakushu's cellars for aging.

Typically, Chita's corn distillates serve as the basis of Suntory's blended whisky products, such as Suntory Old, Suntory Reserve, Suntory Royal, Toki, and the fancier blends like the Hibikis. They have also released the NAS Chita Single Grain Whisky as a staple shelfer, though that one didn't typically garner the same fanfare as Suntory's single malts or blended Hibikis.

Back to the whisky- this Essence of Suntory Whisky bottle was one of the very few high aged Chita releases, with a  wine cask finish!

Details in comments!

Hi all, I'm here with more Suntory whisky, and it's another interesting whisky from their experimental "Essence of Suntory Whisky" Series!

This one here is another bottle from the first 'The Essence of Suntory Whisky' release, and it's the Chita bottle from the series!

Here's a bit of background on the Chita:

The Chita Distillery, located on the Chita Peninsula, had been the quiet backbone of Suntory's many blended products since its completion in 1973.  The most notable things about the distillery were that it *exclusively* used corn as raw material to produce distillates, and of course its gigantic continuous still (pic 3 for the still's model, one of the four columns).

Chita's continuous still, standing at a height of 30 meters (98 ft), was internally fitted with multiple specialized columns (wash column, extraction column, rectifying column, and purifying column) for distillation. Without getting into too much detail, three main types of corn distillates were produced from the still, utilizing a combination of different columns. The distillates, classified as heavy, medium and light, were then filled into casks (mostly white oak but also a few in sherry casks) and shipped to Yamazaki or Hakushu's cellars for aging.

Typically, Chita's corn distillates serve as the basis of Suntory's blended whisky products, such as Suntory Old, Suntory Reserve, Suntory Royal, Toki, and the fancier blends like the Hibikis. They have also released the NAS Chita Single Grain Whisky as a staple shelfer, though that one didn't typically garner the same fanfare as Suntory's single malts or blended Hibikis.

Back to the whisky- this Essence of Suntory Whisky bottle was one of the very few high aged Chita releases, with a  wine cask finish!

Details in comments!

Hi all, I'm here today with a rather interesting Korean whisky!

This one here is another one a Korean friend brought to our whisky spot for sharing. Interestingly, this one is a bottle fully distilled and aged in Korea!

From what I heard from my Korean friend, the Kimchangsoo brand was one of the rising stars in Korea's relatively young whisky making history. The owner founded his own distillery in 2020, with the goal to create his very own 'grain to glass' whisky in Korea!

The distillery focuses on small batch, small quantity production, with the goal of becoming something similar to Korea's Chichibu some day (where the owner had spent some time working at). Interestingly, one of his 2025 releases won minor recognition in the WWA!

Kimchangsoo Whisky Single Cask, Summer Bloom Lotus (50% abv)

This is a 4 year old, lightly peated, 1st fill PX Sherry cask single cask whisky that wasn't chill filtered. I heard from the Korean friend that the Korean whisky enthusiasts were quite eager with this brand, and their bottles' preorder tend to sell out pretty quickly. 

Was it worth the hype? Here are my notes:

*Nose*

new make fumey;

sichuan peppers;

crushed walnuts & oiliness;

dried red jujube, smoked dried plum;

light hint of fresh cucumber;

maltose shows up after resting;

peat smoke (campfire-like)

*Palate*

oily;

new-make like fumey;

sweet maltose;

very prominent sichuan peppers;

sweet dried red fruit (jujube);

slightly charred oak;

oaky bitterness that lingers

hint of campfire-like peat smoke in the background

present alcohol sting, some astringency

*Finish*

medium-long.

a bit of the fumeyness/sting lingers;

red jujube but just the fragrance;

maltose but with subdued sweetness;

ash-like smoky and peaty bitterness;

a light hint of the peppery spice.

*Conclusion*

This one was certainly unique enough to be memorable!

What I found most interesting about it had to be the very present sichuan peppercorn spiciness and fragrance, which I must say was a pretty odd note but worked rather well without feeling particularly off. While it undoubtedly had a bit of the new-make like abrasiveness/acridness, the oily body and the rather well balanced mix of dried red fruity and smoky peat character more than cover up for that shortcoming.

Now I must say, I've noticed a pretty interesting point when it comes to these very young whiskies-the young whiskies made with peated distillates tend to fare better than non-peated ones. It sure seemed like the additional oiliness from the peat made the whiskies have a mellower, more rounded mouthfeel, while also adding an additional layer of complexity. It does feel a bit like cheating though lmao.

All in all, I kind of enjoyed this one, and made me quite curious  to what Kimchangsoo can potentially create when his whiskies were given more time to age! 

Thanks for reading, cheers!

Hi all, I'm here with more Suntory whisky, this time another Hakushu!

Similar to the Yamazaki 10 yr, Suntory also made a younger, more economic version for their staple Hakushu 12 yr- the Hakushu 10 yr, first released in 1998.

However, the Hakushus proved to be more popular than Suntory had initially anticipated, and soon Suntory began running low on Hakushu stock whiskies, which already had a lower reserve due to production cuts during the 90s whisky glut.

Ultimately, Suntory decided to slash the Hakushu 10 yr to keep the Hakushu 12 yr on shelves (for a bit longer), and the Hakushu 10 yr series were terminated in 2013.

This bottle here is one of the later releases, from between 2007~2013!

Details in comments!

Hi all, I'm here with another Suntory whisky, and it's another Yamazaki!

This whisky here is Suntory's Yamazaki Pure Malt 10 yr, the earlier version of the Yamazaki 10 yr product line which was released between 1995 to around 2015. Originally released as a younger, lower cost alternative to the regular shelfer Yamazaki 12 yr, it ironically ended up becoming notably more expensive (roughly 2x or more) than its older brother today due to being discontinued.

Details in comments!

I just received my shipment of Decadent Drinks' new IB of a not-so-mystery Speyside distillery that starts with an M, and this has to be the funniest IB label I've seen.

Here is the official introduction of The Marketing Man™ from their website:

"As everyone knows, The Marketing Malt is promoted and sold (relentlessly) by The Marketing Man. To many he's an enigma. Living out of a briefcase, seen in Hong Kong one day and Milton Keynes the next. Never without business cards, a bottle of Lynx Africa and a pocket-sized overhead projector. He is licensed to engage in hardcore, unvarnished marketing; just don't expect him to buy you a non-sanctioned brand when he's expensing a drinks round."

The text on the back of the bottle (pic 2) is completely different from this intro, and is even funnier lmao.

Here's a few additional references I found on The Marketing Man™ :

1. The mark on his groin is said brand M's logo

2. The shield on his left hand is based on said brand M's 200th anniversary release, the 1940 TIME:SPACE 84-year-old (pic 3), which had an original retail price of around $190,000 USD.

3. The twirly thing on his back is a reference to brand M's collaboration bottle with Bentley, which is a NAS bottle that retails at $50,000

4. The three right hands with palms facing up are a reference to brand M's special release The Reach, an 81 yr old whisky with an original retail price of $125,000

5. His right hand raised into a middle finger because f*ck the customers

Can't wait to try this one, cheers!

Hi all, I'm here with more Suntory whisky, and it's another interesting whisky from their experimental "Essence of Suntory Whisky" Series!

This bottle here was from the first series release from 2018, when Suntory really went full experimental and created three very atypical whiskies from each of their distilleries. They even got the prominent calligrapher Tansetsu Ogino (who also penned the calligraphy for the label of Suntory's flagship blended whisky 'Hibiki' and grain whisky 'Chita') to pen the labels for this series, which reads as  創・遊・夢 (Creation, Fun/Journey, Dream).

From Yamazaki, there's the heavily peated 'Yamazaki peated malt'. From Chita, there's the 'Chita Wine Cask', one of their very rare, highly aged single grain Chita releases. Finally, from Hakushu, there's this bottle- a 6 year old, cask strength rye whisky!

That's right, the Hakushu Distillery made a rye!

Details in comments!