Made at Japan’s oldest malt distillery, this single malt blends American, Spanish, and Mizunara oak ageing to create a flavour profile that’s rich, fruity, and quietly complex. Think orange peel, pineapple, incense, and honey, rounded out by smoke and nutmeg.
A blend of malt and grain whiskies from Suntory’s three distilleries: Yamazaki, Hakushu, and Chita, it lives up to its name with balance and finesse. This is a whisky that smells like a Kyoto garden in spring: floral honey, sandalwood, rosemary, and lychee.
Aged in wine, bourbon, and sherry casks, it’s elegant and aromatic, with notes of rosewater, menthol, vanilla, and spice. If you’re looking to expand beyond peaty smashes and sherry bombs, this single grain whisky is a subtle masterclass.
The original distillery was closed in 2001, its remaining bottles trade for the price of a small apartment. Deeply sherried and hauntingly rich malts, the Platinum Geisha 40 Year Old fetches around $35,000 if you can find one. The name lives on, but the original spirit is pure whisky history.
Founded in 1935 by Masataka Taketsuru, its made using coal-fired stills and located on a windswept stretch of northern Japan that could double for the Scottish Highlands, Yoichi’s single malts are bold, peated, and full of character. You get smoke, sea spray, and that warming kick of malted grain.
There’s no coffee in it, obviously, but what you do get is a dessert cart of flavour: mango, vanilla, papaya, caramel, and a bit of oak spice. Made mostly from corn, it’s bourbon-like but cleaner, less sticky, more elegant. If you spot one, don’t hesitate.
Located in the mountains of Honshu, it offers a softer, fruitier, more sherry-forward profile. Refill sherry casks bring richness without overwhelming the spirit, and result is a dram that’s lush, round, and endlessly drinkable.
Bringing freshness to the table, distilled in the Japanese Alps and often described as 'green', it’s light, herbaceous, and slightly smoky in that way a moss-covered mountain after rain might smell.