Kikori, on the other hand, checks all the boxes to qualify, including their controversial rice-grain mash-bill. Sure, Japan’s traditional sochu is a traditional distilled rice beverage, but sochu’s low ABV disqualifies it from whisky status. Some argue that Kikori’s young rice whisky isn’t whisky at all. Vitals: Non-age-stated 41% ABV (82 Proof) $55 How Does It Taste? Dried fruit, espresso, and oak on the nose with blackberry meshing, strawberry preserve, and the aforementioned dark chocolate on the palate. To create the Yamazaki 18, Fukuyo flips the script on the 12-year-old recipe and leads with Spanish oak casks, imparting a jammy, dark chocolate vibe with American and Mizunura oak as the supporting cast. How Does It Taste? Scents of peach, tropical fruits, and clove, with coconut and buttery flavors. Master blender, Shinji Fukuyo, matures this 12-year-old in roughly 80% new American oak and first-fill ex-bourbon barrels, then spices it up with Japanese oak and Oloroso sherry casks. Yamazaki is dedicated to distilling classic, single-malt barley in the distillery’s 17 pot stills, and it's also the site of Suntory’s most prolific cask-aging program. Vitals: Age-stated 43% ABV (86 Proof) $85 Sweet and bitter flavors on the palate create tension before devolving into saline on the back. How Does It Taste? Dried fruit, berries, and cherry on the nose. This 100% malted barley distillate has only a whisper of peat and was aged in new American oak, ex-bourbon barrels, and Oloroso sherry casks to yield a light bodied yet heartily structured, fruit forward single malt. Nikka’s Miyagikyo expression, also released last year, is a whole different animal from its Yoichi cousin. The finish is long and briny with a hint of smoke. How Does It Taste? Citrus peel and cocoa on the nose with vanilla and baking spices like nutmeg and ginger on the palate. Much like its Islay Scotch inspired cousin, Yoichi is a peated malt barley aged in American oak and sherry casks before finishing with a few special flourishes to procure a spicy, gently smoky, easy drinking sipper. But even without the number on the bottle, this 2016 Yoichi born single-malt does not disappoint. Nikka’s age-stated whiskies sadly went away last year, so if you see some at a decent price, buy it. Vitals: Non-age-stated 45% ABV (90 Proof) $80 How Does It Taste? Dried fruits on the nose with chocolate and coffee flavors. Directly competing with Hibiki, Nikka’s Taketsuru is a marriage of single malts from both Nikka’s distilleries blended and rested in ex-bourbon and sherry casks. Masataka Taketsuru founded the Yoichi distillery on the northern island of Hokkaido in 1934 before breaking ground on a second facility, Miyagikyo, in 1969. How Does It Taste? Oak is politely in your face with aromas of cooked fruit, blackberry, ripe banana, with honey and dried fruit. Suntory pushes the Mizunura envelope even further for a solid hit of what a fully mature Japanese oak expression has to offer. Three distilleries, three different oaks, and five types of barrels go into making Hibiki, and this 21-year-old is the top of the line. Vitals: Age-stated 43% ABV (86 Proof) $250 How Does It Taste? Peach, apricot, melon, rose, and lemon on the nose with toffee, black cherry, and vanilla on the palate. Eventually, western influence compelled Suntory to print its age, and the youngest juice in the bottle that year happened to be seventeen-years-old. Seventeen was originally released as their non-age-stated flagship product when Hibiki launched in the States in 1989. Japanese Mizinura oak ages whisky gracefully, and Hibiki 17 is among the finest examples of its charms. Vitals: Age-stated 43% ABV (86 Proof) $150 How Does It Taste? Fruity and floral notes throughout, with honey, orange peel, and white chocolate flavors. Like all Hibiki expressions, Harmony is aged in a combination of American, Spanish, and Japanese oak. Harmony is their entry level whisky that employs Chita, or grain whisky, as its base and is finished with layers of Hakushu and Yamazaki single malts. Hibiki is a blend that employs all three. Suntory, Japan’s largest distiller, operates three distilleries-Yamazaki, Hakushu, and Chita-which focus on single-malt pot stills, peated single-malts, and column still grain styles. Vitals: Non-age-stated 43% ABV (86 Proof) $70
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