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Review: Suntory The Yamazaki 12 Year Single Malt Whisky
“For relaxing times, make it Suntory time.” With those words, Bill Murray (in Lost in Translation) immortalized Suntory whiskey, a brand that few had heard in the U.S. and even fewer had actually...
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Review: Suntory The Yamazaki 18 Year Single Malt Whisky
I’m quite the fan of Suntory’s 12 year old Yamazaki Japanese whisky, and finally got the chance to compare the 12 year to the 18 year version of The Yamazaki, side by side. Everything you like about...
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Three Words: Japanese Ice Balls.
We’ve covered ice before, but it’s never looked like this. Check it out: With these unique molds, you can make enormous, completely spherical balls of ice, pattered after the hand-carved ice balls that...
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Review: Suntory The Yamazaki 1984 Single Malt Whisky
With just 300 bottles coming to the U.S. this fall, odds are good you are not going to be drinking any of Suntory’s Yamazaki 1984 vintage whiskey — the first vintage-dated whiskey the company has...
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Review: Hibiki 12 Year Old Whiskey
Yamazaki isn’t the only whiskey Japanese distillery Suntory makes, but for ages it’s been the only one it has sold overseas. Now Suntory is expanding the distribution of another of its products: Hibiki...
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Review: Japanese Cocktails (Book)
I love the idea of Japanese Cocktails, the look of it, and the author Yuri Kato, who has obviously toiled for some long months to come up with a succinct list of Japanese-inspired cocktails that you...
View ArticleTasting Report: The Single Malt & Scotch Whisky Extravaganza 2011
The Single Malt & Scotch Whisky Extravaganza is the smallest of the whisky shows, but that doesn’t mean it has something to prove. With fewer crowds and more thoughtful selections — no white dog...
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Review: The Hakushu Japanese Whisky 12 Years Old
The Japanese whisky magnates at Suntory have released their third product to the American market: The Hakushu, a whisky distilled and aged “at the foot of the Southern Japan Alps.” Available in ages...
View ArticleTasting Report: WhiskyFest San Francisco 2012
Another sold-out show this year for WhiskyFest San Francisco, and yet it didn’t feel overly crowded. I missed out on some of the whispered highlights by arriving late, when the rarities were all gone....
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Review: Nikka Taketsuru Pure Malt 12 Years Old
Japanese whisky fans have long been anticipating the arrival of Nikka, a company which operates two separate distilleries in the north of Japan, one (Yoichi) in Hokkaido and one (Miyagikyo) in Sendai,...
View ArticleTasting Report: WhiskyFest San Francisco 2013
WhiskyFest 2013 is now in the books, and my what an embarrassment of riches this show was. While I heard grousing about the show not having as many hits as usual (most of the independent Scotch...
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Review: Suntory The Yamazaki 25 Year Single Malt Whisky
For relaxing times, make it Suntory time… 25 years old. Yamazaki is the top-selling single malt in Japan and has made huge inroads Stateside in recent years, with no small thanks to Lost in...
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Review: 5 Whiskies from Japan’s Nikka Distillery
An old part of the Asahi empire, Nikka (est. 1934) suddenly finds itself part of the new guard of Japanese whiskys positively flooding into the U.S. Nikka makes a massive number of whiskys in a wide...
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Review: Nikka Miyagikyo 10 Years Old
Finding any sort of Japanese whisky in the middle of Kentucky seems to be a very complex chore at the least, nearly impossible at best. Limited to a scant few offerings — Hibiki, Yamazaki, and the...
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Review: Hibiki 17 Years Old and 21 Years Old
Great news for lovers of Japanese whiskies. Suntory has just launched two older Hibiki expressions, 17 Years Old and 21 Years Old, to join its 12 year old bottling that arrived on our shores way back...
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Tasting Report: WhiskyFest San Francisco 2014
Another WhiskyFest has come and gone, filling the masses with a smorgasbord of Scotch, Bourbon, Irish, and a little bit of everything else. There was nothing not to like in San Francisco this year,...
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Tasting Report: Whiskies of the World Expo San Francisco 2015
This year marked my sixth consecutive in attendance at Whiskies of the World, a fantastic event that’s typically held on the San Francisco Belle paddleboat, docked in San Francisco Bay. I asked...
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Review: Hibiki Japanese Harmony Whisky
A little of this and a little of that, Hibiki’s latest is a blended whisky, something we don’t see often represented from Japan on American shores. If you can’t find something to like in this dram,...
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Review: Suntory The Yamazaki Sherry Cask 2016 Single Malt Whisky
In 2014 Jim Murray pronounced The Yamazaki Sherry Cask 2013 the best whisky of the year, and the world promptly exploded. Everybody likes Japanese whisky — why wouldn’t you? — but giving this small...
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Review: Nikka Coffey Malt Whisky
Nikka’s Coffey Grain Whisky — named because of the Coffey still (a column still, not a pot still) that is used to produce it — has gained almost cult status since its 2013 arrival in the U.S. Now its...
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