How Yamazaki Became a Cult Japanese Whisky
In the United States, whiskey styles like bourbon, rye, and Scotch might be the most popular, but no category has been able to match the rapid success of Japanese whisky of late. Delicate and complex, Japanese whisky has skyrocketed in popularity since it was introduced to the American market in 1990. From 2013 to 2022, exports increased 233 percent by value, jumping from $40.8 million to $135.8 million.
While the vast majority of Japanese whiskies are blended expressions, it’s Japanese single malts that are the most sought-after bottlings. Some of these are even more elusive than single-malt Scotches. According to one master distiller, in just one year, The Macallan produces the same amount of single malt as all of the 100-plus single-malt distilleries in Japan combined. Given the quality and rarity of these spirits, consumers around the world are willing to pay a premium to get their hands on a bottle, with even the most affordable options arriving in the $50 range.
Of the beloved brands coming from Japan, none are quite as coveted as bottlings from the Yamazaki Distillery. But how was this brand able to attract the cult-like following it currently enjoys, especially in a country like the U.S.? Simply put, Yamazaki is a cult Japanese whisky because it created Japanese whisky.
Nestled at the base of Mount Tennōzan in Osaka, the Yamazaki Distillery was founded by entrepreneur Shinjiro Torii in 1923 and is Japan’s first and oldest malt whisky distillery. Twenty-four years earlier, Torii had founded what is now Suntory when he opened the store Torii Shoten to introduce imported, Western-style spirits to Japanese consumers. Named for the neighborhood in which it resides, the Yamazaki Distillery was founded on the same principle, with Torii angling to give Japanese consumers a Scotch-style whisky produced in their home country.
To accomplish this goal, he enlisted the help of Masataka Taketsuru, a Japanese chemist who left his homeland for Scotland in 1918 to study distillation and blending under the experts. Two years later, he returned to Japan aiming to produce authentic whisky, though he initially planned to do so at the foundational Settsu Shuzo, a now-shuttered distillery. When he was approached by Torii in 1923 to help construct and launch what is now the Yamazaki Distillery, he signed on immediately. (Taketsuru left Yamazaki in 1934 to establish Japan’s Nikka Whisky.)
The distillery’s first whisky (a.k.a. the very first Japanese whisky) arrived six years later with the 1929 debut of Suntory Shirofuda, a blended bottling that received little fanfare. Success finally arrived in 1937 when Suntory Kakubin hit the market. The expression eventually went on to become Japan’s best-selling whisky, a title it still enjoys today. For most of Yamazaki’s existence, though, its distillates have been used strictly for blending with Suntory whiskies — and those whiskies were almost exclusively enjoyed in Japan. But all of that started to change in 1984 when the distillery launched the non-age-stated Suntory Pure Malt.
The designation “pure malt” might be confusing, but in this context, it means basically the same thing as single malt — a whisky distilled from malted barley at a singular distillery. As explained by Suntory’s current chief blender Shinji Fukuyo, the term was chosen because marketers at the time didn’t think anyone in Japan would know what a single malt was — that’s just how new the style was.
Despite the fact that Suntory Pure Malt was not Japan’s first single malt, it’s undeniably one of, if not the, most important bottle. In 1986, a 12-year age statement was added, and Yamazaki continued distilling and producing Suntory Pure Malt under this name for decades. The whisky was said to contain notes of dashi, incense, mushrooms, and sandalwood with sweeter pops of sherry, but it was phased out around 2003. The following year, the flagship single malt was replaced by one that’s likely to be much more familiar to whiskey connoisseurs: Yamazaki Single Malt Aged 12 Years.
Since its debut, Yamazaki has introduced several versions of the whisky, including those aged in the standard Mizunara oak, sherry cask-matured, and cask-strength expressions. The whisky, along with most of the greater Yamazaki portfolio, has been available on U.S. shelves since as early as the ’90s, yet it wasn’t until the mid-2010s that it would become the cult whisky it is today.
In 2013, Suntory introduced that year’s edition of the Yamazaki Sherry Cask Single Malt Whisky, an expression that catapulted not just the distillery, but the category at large to fame in the Western world. In the 2015 edition of Jim Murray’s “Whisky Bible,” the author declared the expression “World Whisky of the Year,” describing it as possessing “near indescribable genius.” (Murray has since faced extensive criticism for the sexist language used in each tome.)
The review didn’t just proliferate in whiskey circles, though. It went viral. Like, mega viral. Publications including Time Magazine, The New York Post, The Washington Post, and CNBC each covered the news, all displaying shock that the whisky to nab the top spot wasn’t a Scotch. The proclamation made an impact straightaway, leading the spirit to sell out almost immediately once news of Murray’s review broke. As argued by VinePair contributor Brad Japhe, one would be “hard-pressed to find a release across any category of luxury product that had such a monumental impact so immediately as this non-age-stated Japanese single malt.”
The popularity of the sherry cask edition spread to the rest of Yamazaki’s lineup, namely its 12- and 18-year expressions. By the mid- to late-2010s, stock was no longer easy to find on store shelves, let alone at a wallet-friendly price. Despite retailing in the $100 to $300 range, it’s difficult to track down a bottle given the tight allocations, and secondary market prices are often far higher than the MSRP. For Yamazaki 18 Year, they can reach as high as $1,000 — but that’s still not quite as expensive as the Sherry Cask.
When that 2013 edition of the Yamazaki Sherry Cask Single malt Whisky was first launched, a single bottle retailed for roughly $150. Today, scoring one below $10,000 is a notable feat, as whiskey lovers continue to clamor for their chance to taste the world’s first cult Japanese whisky.
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