The Yamzaki Single Malt - by Boy

Seeing as its the festival this week, I thought I would share a rather interesting whisky with you. When you hear the word single malt you tend to think of the Highlands of Scotland with their crystal clear, ice cold water sources.


Enter The Yamazaki. Yip, straight out of Japan. The Yamazaki distillery lies just southwest of Kyoto, nestled deep within the heart of Mt. Tennozan. The distilery was built in 1923 by Mr Shinnjiro Torii, founder of Suntory and the father of Japanese Whisky


I was introduced to Yamazaki by a friend of mine, Clive Searle, a very old wise Rhodesian (God I hope he reads this!) who really knows his whisky. He actually inspired me to start a collection. Last time I checked, he had over 90 single malts in his collection.

The Yamazaki is sweet and spicy with hints of nuts. It's not the smoothest single malt and the finish is a little dry with hints of macadamia nut. I must admit I can't drink more than one at a time, it's a bit too sweet for my taste, but then again I enjoy the heavy, smoky, bottled charcoal whiskies. Don't get me wrong, I like it, but I enjoy the look on people's faces when I present them with a Japanese single malt more.