For relaxing times.. make it Suntory times.
I’m sure you remember this line. Bill Murray in “Lost in Translation”. It reminds you something? Well, in this fake commercial, the whisky is a Hibiki 17 years old, the one I will present you today comes from the same company Suntory (actually a large Japanese group of food & drinks). I received it as a gift few days ago as a present for my birthday. It’s a single malt of 10 years of age from the Yamazaki distillery, the oldest one in Japan.
I was looking for a Japanese whisky for so long as it’s not easy at all to find such whiskies in Tri-city! They really had to look around to find it. Congratulations lads…
So straight to the point, this whisky is good, even very good. Less “powerful” than a Scottish single malt (I’m only talking about the ones I tried already), it’s lighter, smoother and it’s very fruity. But can we really compare whiskies? Each one of them has specificities and it’s like wine, depending on the weather, on your mood, on your envy that day, it’s this one or this other whisky that you will enjoy. I enjoyed a lot the Glenfiddich 18 years and the anCnoc 12 years, I particularly hated the Johnny Walker Blue Label (overpriced and awful as hell!). I pretty like the Bushmills as well. My favoutite one is, and will stay for a while Midleton. On the other hand, I do not like when a whisky is too smoky.
My first impression (after I opened the bottle and before tasting it) was that this whisky was a copy of Jack Daniel, which you can explain by the fact that it’s aged in bourbon casks. But the taste, everything is different (I do not like Jack Daniel at all). There is some dried fruits and vanilla flavors… It’s really easy to drink. Well worth buying it. Do not hesitate, look around, try it and I’m sure you will like it.
So, here is a link (in French only) to a very interesting article : Whisky, Scotland vs Japan.
For those who live in Poland, I’ve just come across this site : www.singlemalt.pl
And if during a party you can’t find your glass, here is something pretty cool and useful. Believe me, I always loose my glass, not that I’m drunk, but there is always so many people!
