The well-known foreign shopping guide website "Gear Patrol" lists 8 Japanese whiskeys that their members must drink in 2021. This wine list does not have the well-known Yamazaki, Hakushu, Higashi, Yoichi and other wines in our country. It includes several very interesting Japanese "whiskeys". Below, let us have a quick glance, of course, for those who want to get started with Japanese whiskey, it can also be used as a reference.
first list these 8 wines as follows:
Best Overall : Shinshu Iwai 45 (Mars Iwai 45)
Best Splurge (Best Splurge) : No. 4 in the thick shore new life series Version (Akkeshi New Born Foundations #4)
Best Budget : Suntory Toki (Suntory Toki)
Best Whisky (Best Whisky) :
1. Coffey Grain;
2. Kujira Ryukyu Whisky;
3. Chichibu Ichiro's Malt & Grain Blended;
4. The Fukano 16 Year Sherry Cask Whisky);
5. Tsutsumi 12 Year Taru (Tsutsumi 12 Year Taru)
-Best Overall: Shinshu Iwai 45 (Mars Iwai 45)
45%ABV,The international price is about 35 U.S. dollars. He was selected as one of the top 20 whiskies in the 2020 Whisky Advocate (Whisky Advocate). The wine is named after Kiichiro Iwai, the founder of Shinshu Distillery. Kiichiro Iwai was the "pioneer behind the scenes" of Japanese whiskey, but he sent Taketsuru Masataka to Scotland to learn the original whiskey, and the latter gave the "Taketsuru Notes" to Kiichiro Iwai after returning from school.
This wine uses 75% corn and 25% malt as raw materials, making the whisky that is brewed has obvious smooth and mellow characteristics, very soft, with pleasant aromas of honey, ripe pears, barley, exotic forests and citrus . The entrance is the sweetness of honey and the mixed aroma of sugar cubes, vanilla, pear, apricot, spices, breakfast cereal, nougat and white chocolate, delicious and unusual. Very suitable for making cocktails.
-Best Splurge: Akkeshi New Born Foundations 4th Edition (Akkeshi New Born Foundations #4)
48% ABV, the international price is about US$275. Released in August 2019, this is a blended whiskey. Among them, Hokkaido malt wine contains 5% of Hokkaido Ryof barley, which is matured in sherry, bourbon, wine and mizubara barrels, while the grain wine imported from Scotland is matured in bourbon barrels. The maturation time of the original wine ranges from 13 months to 30 months. This is an exhilarating spirit with flavors of caramel, banana, bitter chocolate and spices.
-Best Budget: Suntory Toki
43% ABV, the international price is about 31 US dollars. It is the sister brand of Sunlit’s Harmony Whiskey, but the base liquor is mainly Hakushu Malt Whiskey and Chita Grain Whiskey, and they are basically matured in bourbon barrels.Of course, there is also a small amount of Yamazaki malt whisky aged in Spanish oak barrels mixed with it. It is mellow, light and sweet, with a refreshing citrus flavor, with a hint of spicy flavor at the end. Very suitable for summer drinks, of course, making highball (Highball) is also very suitable.
-must drink: Nikka Coffey Grain
45% ABV, the international price is about 69 US dollars. Introduced by Nikka Company, it is mainly made of corn, distilled by Coffey column still (column still), and matured in bourbon barrels, with attractive caramel aroma and brown sugar, vanilla, leather The taste, greasy taste and tongue pressing. The addition of malt in the raw material adds a little sweetness. This is a very good starter whisky. The only disadvantage is that it has been discontinued and it is difficult to find. There is also a Kofi series that uses 100% malt as raw material and is also distilled by a Kofi column distiller. If you can find it, you can compare the two.
-must drink: Kujira Ryukyu Whisky
40% ABV, the international price is about 74 US dollars. This whale whiskey from Kumesen Distillery Co., Ltd. in the Ryukyu Islands, Japan, is made by fermenting and distilling high-quality rice imported from Thailand with unique black rice koji, and matured in a sherry barrel. It has raisins, roasted nuts, citrus and smoke. Smoke smell. Due to the blend of 3-year and 8-year-old whiskey produced by Yaesen Shuzo in Okinawa, there is no vintage statement for bottling.
-must drink: Chichibu Ichiro's Malt & Grain Blended
46%ABV,The international price is about US$104. Chichibu Ichiro Malt Grain Whiskey, also known as White Leaf, is a "world blended whiskey", which is a blend of Chichibu whiskey with whiskies from Scotland, Ireland, Canadian rye and American bourbon. These whiskeys are aged for 3 to 20 years, then aged in the warehouse of Chichibu Distillery for another 2 years, and finally blended, with toffee, butterscotch, tropical fruit and tobacco flavors, and a spicy aftertaste.
-must drink: The Fukano 16 Year Sherry Cask Whisky (The Fukano 16 Year Sherry Cask Whisky)
42.5% ABV, the international price is about 150 US dollars. This rice whiskey has a mahogany color, with complex flavors of dried fruit, pipe, spice box, oolong tea and caramel, deep and rich in texture. Fukano Distillery (Fukano Distillery) is located in Kumamoto Prefecture on the island of Kyushu in southern Japan and mainly produces shochu. In the 1980s, due to excessive inventory, the winery decided to age the distilled shochu in oak barrels. This kind of shochu, which is more like whiskey, was exported to the United States in 2015. This "magic shochu" was rated as the "No. 1 Los Angeles Whiskey" by Los Angeles magazine, and it is very popular in the US market. It was also named one of the 20 best whiskies of 2017 by the Whiskey Advocate.
——Tsutsumi 12 yr. Taru
41% ABV, the international price is about 170 US dollars. Tsugami Brewery in Kumamoto has a history of 141 years and is one of the oldest and most respected shochu distillery in Japan. The wine is made from Kuma River water and rice, and then aged in sherry barrels ("Taru" means oak barrels), giving it elements of dried fruits and spices.The taste is delicate and the aftertaste is smooth.
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