JAPANESE WHISKY: Still worth the hype?
We've waited for years for these Japanese whiskies to come back to our market. But Christine Sismondo wonders what happenned to them in the meantime.
Back in 2012, we had a couple of lovely Nikka single malt whiskies at the LCBO—a Yoichi and a Miyagikyo.
“Yoichi” is the name of the original distillery that opened in 1934 on Hokkaido, the island to the north of the main island, Honshu. You may know it better for its Sapporo beer, ski resorts, or flower horticulture but not, surprisingly, wild monkeys in hot springs. It’s too cold for them there. “Miyagikyo” whisky comes from a younger distillery, opened in 1969 in northern Honshu. Both were exquisite and, if I recall properly, that Yoichi was a 10-year-old and the Miyagikyo was 15.
This 1679 map doesn’t make things much more clear. But, apparently it’s annotated with unusual comments about beautiful women and worthless youths so we include it.
You know when you hear whisky writers go on about all the different notes you can pick out, reeling off five or ten things, and meanwhile you’re still thinking, “Well, I can really taste the fruitcake”? Yeah, I know. But with both of these whiskies, it was like they were alive, with all the different tastes popping up, then fading and mingling back into the liquid.
How can I remember this so vividly? Well, I’m going to be the first to admit that I’m not an obsessive note-taker and that memory is unreliable, but I did share these with a bunch of pretty serious whisky people at my 2012 Whiskey’s Got to Go-Go party and I can recall other people’s reactions and the conversations we had. One of our most serious whisky people at the party (who happened to also be Al’s personal surgeon, having removed all his superlative organs over several decades), declared it outstanding.
Two years later, we (Al and I) went to Japan. We didn’t see either distillery or, for that matter, any monkeys. We did, however, spend a lot of time in whisky bars in Osaka and Tokyo and, on the way home, bought a lot of whisky. We picked up four bottles of Nikka From the Barrel, for instance, because this overproof blend of Yoichi and Miyagikyo whiskies tasted like the Platonic ideal of “whisky.” It wasn’t distinctly peaty or sherried or herbal, it was just rich, sweet, perfect whisky. It was also under $20 U.S. (500mL; 51.4%).
We also picked up some longer-aged and more unique expressions from both Nikka and Suntory’s Hibiki, as well as a rarity, a small bottle from the storied Chichibu distillery founded by Ichiro Akuto. I’m not going to go into all the details of each one but, let’s just say I have never regretted any of those purchases. Especially since we never saw the single malts at the local liquor store again, presumably because that’s when the real craze hit, and demand outstripped supply. To the chagrin of some in the whisky world, the popularization of Japanese whisky has led to the major producers to make some alterations, let’s say, to their product lineups.
Well, they’rrrre back in Canada, the Nikka whiskies. Some semblance of them, that is. In my region, I can pick up a bottle of Nikka From the Barrel for $68.95, an excellent illustration of the opposite of buyer’s remorse, namely, if you find something you really like, buy more than you think is reasonable. I’ve tasted the recent release, although not in an ideal setting where I could compare it to the original, and I think I can say it’s still quite a solid whisky, albeit about three times more expensive than when I first encountered it.
As to the other new releases, I tasted through them, too. And I wish I could say they had the sparkle I remember them having. To be fair, this could be a nostalgia thing. Memory, we’re increasingly learning, is fairly unreliable, and I almost certainly am viewing these new releases with suspicion. In addition to the From the Barrel, we’re talking a Nikka Coffey Grain whisky, which is already here, and a No Age Statement Yoichi single malt that should be on-shelf soon. Most producers are quite transparent about the fact that these are not exactly the same formulations, starting with the fact that they’ve done away with age statements—to keep up with demand.
Both Nikka and Suntory have been open about their solution to the Japanese whisky shortage and these are still good whiskies. I’m not sure, however, that I’m going to chase them anymore. If I were a broker choosing buy, sell or hold, I think I’d say hold. The situation might improve as supply catches up to demand. For now, I’m inclined to look to other regions, since I think there’s more relative value in some Scottish and Canadian whiskies. Incidentally, some whisky packagers in Japan appear to agree with me. Bulk whisky imports from Canada and Scotland are on the rise there, fuelling speculation that some of the new, upstart brands of Japanese whisky are being made (at least in part) with whisky imported from abroad. So, buyer beware.