Yamazaki 18 Year Old

Description

A wonderful example of what Japanese whisky is capable of. We absolutely love this. Extremely smooth, with great complexity and a lovely balance of fruit, silky malt and a touch of smoke.

“Spiritual and deep, made at Yamazaki Distillery, the soul place of Japanese whisky, its signature multi-layered taste is highly praised by whisky connoisseurs all over the world. Today, Suntory Single Malt Whisky Yamazaki® Whisky is not only the No.1 single malt whisky in Japan, but is enjoyed in more than 35 countries.”

Yamazaki 18 Year Japanese Whiskey is one of the older Japanese whiskeys you can buy today, if you can even find one in real life.

I hate to use the term, but it’s a unicorn now when the popularity boom has made all age-stated Japanese Whiskeys (the ones 100% distilled and aged in Japan) fly off the shelves and/or get marked up 2-10x. It’s bad in the US, and even more severe in Japan.

If you know anything about Japanese Whiskey, you’ve probably heard of Yamazaki, the widely-known distillery owned by Suntory-Beam, who also owns Hibiki and Hakushu (while you’re at it, check out my Hakushu 12 Year review).

Yamazaki is best known for their sherry maturation and lack of smoke, although they do dabble with other types of maturations and finishes (limited releases) that most of us are too poor to buy, let alone find.

Since I’ve harped on how Yamazaki 18 is expensive and difficult to find, I should mention how I got my hands on some without raiding my bank account.

I happened to find a store in Japan that was selling 30mL samples poured from the actual bottle into sample bottles (limit 1 per person), and took advantage to get 60mL (thanks for my girlfriend for being there).

So for $32, I got the to-go sample, a useful glass bottle, and still have money in my bank account for good measure. I’m very excited to review this, so let’s not wait any longer and begin this Yamazaki 18 Year review.

yamazaki 18 year old single

18 year old single malt

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year old single malt whiskey

Is Yamazaki 18 hard to find?

“Yamazaki 18 is another one of those highly lauded and hard to find Japanese whiskies that people seem to go ga-ga for… and this time it’s warranted… a rich full whisky experience I’d love to have a reoccurring affair with.”

How many bottles of Yamazaki 18 are there?

2000 bottles

To mark the 100th anniversary of whiskey production, Suntory released this strictly limited bottling onto the market. Only 2000 bottles were produced in total.

What does Yamazaki 18 taste like?

Palate A rich, bittersweet palate with heather roots, cigar leaves, honey, toffee apples, plum wine and black pepper. A touch of rancio, perhaps… Finish Long, fruity, marmalade-led finish.

Is Yamazaki 18 smoky?

An absolutely stunning marriage of fruit, oak and smoky notes, it’s really no wonder why it won so many awards!

Yamazaki 18 Year Old

Description

Description