Yamazaki distillery

Yamazaki

Barrels in Yamazaki distillery
Region: Japan
Location	Yamazaki 5-2-1, Shimamoto-cho, Mishima-gun, Osaka, 618-0001 Japan
Coordinates	34°53′35.5″N 135°40′28.4″E
Owner	Suntory
Founded	1923 (1923)
Founder	Shinjiro Torii
Status	Active
No. of stills	6 wash stills 6 spirit stills
Website	Suntory Yamazaki Distillery

Yamazaki distillery (Japanese: 山崎蒸溜所, Hepburn: Yamazaki jōryūsho) is a Japanese whisky distillery located in Shimamoto, Osaka Prefecture, Japan. Opened in 1923, and owned by Suntory, it was Japan's first commercial whisky distillery. Seven thousand bottles of unblended malt whisky are on display in its "Whisky Library".

History

12-year-old Single Malt

In 1923, Shinjiro Torii, the founder of Suntory, built Japan’s first malt whisky distillery in the Vale of Yamazaki.

The distillery's location on the outskirts of Japan’s ancient capital of Kyoto offered access to a good water supply, diversity of climate and high humidity—a desirable environment for the production and maturation of whisky.

Suntory Yamazaki has the largest market share for single malt whisky in Japan. It is currently exported to more than 10 countries. However, the amount of export to some of these countries is very little. But most of the countries import a very large quantity. The United States is the biggest importer accounting for nearly 60% of exports, with China, England, and Indonesia as the next biggest importers in order.

Styles of whisky

There are three primary variants of Yamazaki whisky:

• Yamazaki Single Malt 12-Year-Old whisky
• Yamazaki Single Malt 18-Year-Old whisky
• Yamazaki Single Malt 25-Year-Old whisky

There are also other offerings outside of the US (which are the 12yr, 18yr, and 1984 which is limited to 300/2500 bottles), such as a 10-, 25-, 35- and a 50-year-old. Some offerings are dated such as 1980, 1984, 1993, and lastly Puncheon and sherry offerings.

Evaluation

Spirit ratings organizations, such as the Beverage Testing Institute and the San Francisco World Spirits Competitions, have reacted favorably to Yamazaki's offerings. Most notably, the 18-Year has earned six consecutive double gold medals at the San Francisco Spirits Competitions between 2008 and 2013. Ratings aggregator Proof66.com places the Yamazaki 18-Year in the 97th percentile among its rated whiskies.

Yamazaki 25 Year Old was awarded "Best Japanese Single Malt" at the 2013 World Whisky Awards. Jim Murray's Whisky Bible 2015 awarded Yamazaki Single Malt Sherry Cask 2013 the title of World Whisky of the Year.

References

Bibliography

• Buxton, Ian (2012). 101 World Whiskies to Try Before You Die. Edinburgh: Hachette Scotland. pp. 78–79. ISBN 9780755363193.

External links

• Template:Ja icon Suntory Yamazaki Distillery
• Template:En icon Suntory Yamazaki Distillery
• Template:En icon Suntory Yamazaki Distillery Guide