WHAT IN THE WORLD HAS HAPPENED TO THE PRICE OF JAPANESE WHISKY?

A decade ago, French Bordeaux red wines skyrocketed in price.  You can blame the Chinese for that.  Apparently, they are not responsible for the jump in Japanese whisky prices.  The world has fallen in love with Hibiki, Yamazaki and Yoichi.  Also, some combination of Suntory's available supply of these potions, plus, perhaps, some marketing adventures.

For a quarter century and more I've always had a bottle or two of Suntory Yamazaki 12-year old single malt at home, and another at Restaurant Suntory in Waikiki.  I remember way back when they cost a somewhat stiff $20 or so when you bought a bottle in a liquor store.  I recently had lunch at Suntory.  You can see my bottle of Yamazaki.

I asked Daryl (the bartender who has been there since the restaurant opened 30 years ago) what does a bottle of this whiskey cost now.  I think the one you see set me back $75.  A new bottle now is up to $150, but he wasn't sure.

Just in the past three years Yamazaki 12 has shot up in price:

Thus, 20,000 yen means $184 per bottle.  I should immediately go back to Suntory and get a new bottle, for they normally multiply by 3 for the upkeep, service, ice, etc.

The first commercial production of whisky began in Japan a little less than a century ago...1924 with Yamazaki.  It all began with  Shinjiro Torii (left).  Against the will of his company, which went on to become Suntory, Torii built the first Japanese whiskey distillery in Yamazaki, a suburb of Kyoto, a site said to provide excellent waters, as tea rooms were prominent there.  He hired Masataka Taketsuru (right) to assist.  Now this individual certainly had a fabled life:

• Arrived in Scotland in 1918 to enroll at the University of Glasgow.  Note that this was when World War II ended.
• Did an apprenticeship at Longmorn distillery in Scotland.  
• In 1920 married Jessie Roberta Cowan despite strong opposition from both families, and returned to Japan later that year.
• After helping Torii, Taketsuru in 1934 founded his own distillery in Yoichi, Hokkaido, for this area resembled Scotland.  He eventually named his company Nikka, selling his first batch in 1940, just before World War II.

In 2001, Nikka's 10-year old Yoichi single malt broke that cultural barrier by winning "Best of Best" at Whisky Magazine's awards that year.  Mind you, this was their lowest ranking product, only 10 years old.  Here is my current unopened collection of Nikka:

Interesting that the ethanol content differs:

• 10-year old 45% (90 proof)
• 12-year old 43% (86 proof)
• 20-year old 52% (104 proof)

I've had a bottle of Nikka 20 at the Tokyo Westin since 2002.  I replaced it once.

Here is part of my Japanese whiskey collection, hidden away in my walk-in closet:

I must have more than a dozen different kinds of Johnny Walkers, too.  They also have begun escalating in price, with their Gold Label winning the best blended award last year.










Here, a list of Japanese whiskey winners.  It ends in 2014, but only because the article was written that year.  The 2019 Best Whisky Awards included the following Japanese whiskies:

• Grain Whisky:  Kirin Fuji-Gotemba Single Grain 25 years
• Blended Malt:  Nikka Taketsuru Pure Malt 25 years
• Blended Limited Release:  Ichiro's Malt & Grain (only 300 bottles produced) 
• Blended Whisky:  Suntory Hibiki 21-year old--while the company stopped making the 12 and 17 year old versions, both the 21-year old and 30-year old Hibikis remain

Last week Forbes provided all the lingo you need to proceed with enjoying Japanese whiskies:

• Suntory produces Yamazaki, Hakushu, Chita and Hibiki (which blends all three other sites)
• In addition to their original Hokkaido location, Yoichi is also produced in Sendai at their Miyagikyo location.

• Karuizawa, Hanyu and Kawasaki shut down their distilleries during and after WWII, when beer and shochu boomed.  However, they kept and aged their products, where in 2017 a Karuizawa bottle sold for $128,000.  But watch out for fakes.

• A bottle of 50-year old Yamazaki sold for $343,000 two years ago.
• Ji-whisky (local) makers like Chichibu, Mars and White Oak have gained prominence, and their products are so popular that they're hard to find, and are expensive.

• Be appreciative of Mizunara (a Japanese oak--right) casks, for they make the best whiskies.  These trees are rare and take 200 years to grow.

• In case you were so ignorant, you know SAKE as a Japanese rice wine.  However, the term in Japan means any kind of alcoholic beverage.  The proper term for the Japanese rice wine you might drink is Nihonshu, which normally has 15-16% alcohol.  A 2 liter milk carton sized version can be found for $8 or less, while a typical 700 milliliter bottle can go for $100 and more.

• Whisky is rarely drunk over rocks in Japan.  Most tend to have their whisky topped with a tad of water, called Mizuwari, on ice (no ice in Scotland, please).
• Surely, you've seen Bill Murray in the movie Lost in Translation drinking Hibiki 17?
• While whisky is rarely topped with hot water, or Oyuwari, sochu is popularly drunk in this manner.

• The most popular way to drink whisky in Japan?  HAIBORU (yes, highball):  whiskey and soda on a specially crafted piece of ice.  This can be a perfect sphere, or, more probably, the shape of a small iceberg.

And here you thought whiskey was drunk with just a small amount of water, as in Europe, or cubes of ice, as in America.  Not only has Japanese whisky attained a high sense of respect, how you drink it is respectfully ceremonial, with the right quality of crystal.  So I went to my cabinet and had this drink while I finished this posting.  Hakusho was the best single malt in 2018.

Dekanta sends me regular sales, but I wonder who ever buys from them, as these prices are outrageous...but unfortunately mostly true:

Kirin Fuji-Gotemba Single Grand 25 Year old:  $2,000.  Here are some others:

Yamazaki 12 Year Old:  $250.  Wait a minute, that $184/bottle cost shown above in the graph just jumped again.  I definitely should get another bottle at Suntory Restaurant if all they're charging is $150.

Hakushu 12 Year Old (this is the one I'm now drinking):

I report on Ichiro to conclude this posting:

Hibiki 12 Year Old:  $500.  Not too long ago, this was way below $100/bottle:

Just as I was about to post this article the other day, I received an e-mail under the highest secrecy one bottle/day of Hibiki just went on sale at a store in Honolulu.  So I went and bought:

The same looking Hibiki from two e-mails sent about the same time had prices of $499.99 and $75.99.  How's that possible?  Well, first, the 12-year old was discontinued in 2015, then the 17-year old in 2017.  In came the NO AGE Hibiki Harmony.  Turns out that, while the bottle looks and feels the same, there is no 12-year age indication on the Hibiki I recently got.  So, maybe it is really worth $75.99.  I wouldn't be able to taste the difference anyway.

I asked the person at this outlet what was the absolute best buy today in Japanese whisky, and he recommended Suntory Toki, for $34.99.  No age indication on the bottle.  Both Hibiki and Toki are 86 proof.

Then I noticed in an empty slot where the Hibiki would have shown, a bottle of Ichiro's at 92 proof, for $89.99.  Mind you, this is not that Limited Edition Cask for $2,699.99 shown above.  The average price in liquor shops today is only $104 for this run-of-the-mill whiskey, but I expect the Ichiro brand to soon become scarce for they don't make much.

Chichibu distillery was founded by Ichiro Akuto (who comes from the family that discontinued Hanyu) only in 2004, and began selling a decade ago.  In 2017 his Chichibu Matsuri was named the World's Best Single Cask Single Malt at the World Whiskies Awards, and last year the Limited Edition was named the World's Best Limited Brand.  He runs the smallest distillery in Japan and is known as the Japanese Whisky Rockstar.

As I was about to leave this store where I bought those three bottles, I thought, I should at least taste what I purchased, so I bought a bento and hamachi sashimi:

The Toki was smooth, while the Ichiro was harsh.  Honestly, the Toki reminded me of the 12-year old Hibiki.  I've yet to taste Harmony.  So am I going to tell you where I got all this stuff?  Nah, it's still supposed to be a secret.

What I can leave with you is a new list of stops if you ever go on a two-week Japan Rail Pass trip:  whisky distillery hopping.  Here are two maps:

At one time some of the distilleries gave you a free tour and samples.  Not sure about today.  Just as American wineries now all charge, Yamazaki's tour costs 10,000 yen and 500 yen per dram samples at the end.  What does this mean in English?  16 drams per ounce and 109 yen/$ today.  Hmmm, kind of expensive.  Reservations required.  Chichibu only by special appointment.

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Hurricane Erick is weakening, with a southernly track, and will mostly bring rain to the Hawaiian Islands.  Hurricane Flossie should be a tropical storm when she makes landfall over the Big Island early next week:

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