The meeting of the Virtual Whisky Tasting group on May 15th centered on whisky from Japan. Japan is one of the countries that doesn’t have an “e” in their whisky, and they have a strong recent history of producing some outstanding spirits, including awards for Best Malt Whisky of the year.
About Japanese Whisky
The Japanese take great pride in crafting their varieties of whisky, and the have a long storied past of creating unique blends which offer a microcosm of styles from Scotland – sweet to oily to peaty.
The two major names dominating the Japanese whisky industry are Suntory and Nikka, and the names of the two founders are Shinjiro Torii and Masataka Taketsuru. The founders originally worked together – the former founding Yamazaki in 1923, and the latter serving as his distillery manager until 1934, at which point he went North to found Nikka.
Since then, the industry has grown significantly, and in recent years Japanese whisky has seen a significant spike in popularity, with prices reflecting the same.
