That’s a good question. I think I paid about $60 for a bottle of yamazaki 12…and it was pretty good. Not sure what it runs in your part of the world, maybe it’s closer to your pricepoint.
Well, I went to the local liquor supermart, and the Yamazaki 12 was $52. Not terribly out of my range (which was arbitrary anyway), but alas they were sold out, nothing in the back. I just kept looking and looking, and ended up with a beautiful bottle of Hibiki 12 (another Suntory brand, it seems). It was a even bit more than the Yamazaki 12, but it is quite nice and worth it. Smooth, oaky, fruity. I don’t know enough to do a proper review, but I found it quite nice to sip on.
All I can do is be jealous. Here in VA, THE MAN decides which booze we are allowed to buy and Japanese whiskey isn’t on the list. I could be wrong, but my brief research tells me there’s not one bottle to be found here. Online retailers (the ones I’ve been referred to by friends in other parts of the country) won’t ship here, either. But those of you without all those hassles might try a place like K & L’s online store.
On a related note, Suntory has a reputation of letting their acquisitions do their job. That’s rather unlike other liquor giants, like Diageo, that constantly alter product lines. So I’m optimistic about Beam products maintaining their high quality. (Don’t laugh! They make a lot of great stuff.)
Anybody drink Slieve Foy? Unfortunately, it is no longer produced, and I’d love to find something similar.
And they are the ones that killed Slieve Foy and a bunch of other small distilleries last year, so they can bite me.
I’ve had both Yamizaki 12 and 18, both of which are pretty good.
I picked up these a few weeks back, and I have the single malt on the way (ignore the Moonshine cherries):
Damn good very hard to find whiskey(s).
— Alan
I quite liked the Baby Blue the one time I had a bottle.
I can’t find mention of them killing a distillery. According to this, they are using that distillery to produce something else.
http://eatdrinkevolve.com/slieve-foy-irish-whiskey-of-the-year-is-dead/
But I sympathize with anyone who lost their favorite drink.
You’re right, I should have said they killed off a bunch of brands by buying the distilleries, but they might as well have.
Collapsing some brands isn’t necessarily a bad thing, up until recently there were only 10 distilleries producing all of Kentucky’s bourbon. I’d rather see smaller makers concentrate on a particular thing than conglomerates trying to fill every niche with slightly-one-offs.
So… what do you use the cherries/moonshine stuff for?
My local Safeway, which mostly just carries frighteningly flavored vodkas, starting selling that. I use Maraschino cherries for the occasional Manhattan, but I’m at a loss to describe what one would do with those moonshine cherries or the booze itself. The only thing my google-ing came up with is that its an Appalachian thing.
Being an Appalachian, we don’t use cherries. There is very little about the current whiskey culture that is actually connected to the area where it is made.
Theoretically you use them in any drink that requires cherries; lots of bourbon-style mixed drinks for instance. I don’t think the juice itself is good for much of anything, even for flavoring, and it doesn’t taste like much or is very alcoholic anymore… because the cherries absorb an assload. If you want to shock the hell out of someone, just have 'em eat one straight up. It’s basically a moonshine shot in the form of a Maraschino.
After trying it not sure if I’m really a fan. I use Luxardo’s Maraschinos in my drinks with a little bit of the little bit of syrup they are packed in and they’re completely fabulous. The novelty of severely alcoholic cherries wears out pretty fast. I may just give 'em away at this point.
— Alan
Catching up: The Yamazaki 12 is very nice. I like it much more than the 18! It pairs very well with food.
Tom Hanks might disagree with you.
Thanks for the review. It does seem like a bit of gimmick, especially at the price those go for.
Why would you ruin a perfectly good 18 with ice?!
I’ve had the 18. We bought it for my father in law, who likes a little ice with his scotch, so we bought him one of those ice cube trays that makes gigantic bricks of ice that don’t melt very much. We tend to pour small amounts, often, so the scotch doesn’t get particularly diluted. It does open up a touch with just a little bit of water, though. I’m just as happy to drink it almost neat with a few drops of water.
That bottle is mighty tasty, either way.
Bah, I don’t cotton to the idea that liquor doesn’t need ice. It opens it up, it lets you enjoy it from stem to stern. Pure booze is too hot even for my damaged palate.
Water is tricky - a little can really help (especially for cask strength products), too much really destroys the drink. It seems quite subjective where on that line your preferences fall. I find that as I drink more scotch, I’m drinking it with less water than I used to, but I always get water on the side - sometimes even to sip in between sips on whatever I’m drinking.
I tried some lagavulin 16 recently that my brother in law loves, and it was an interesting experience. I’m not really a giant peat fiend, but I had the dram neat with a glass of water on the side. Sips of water to occasionally refresh my palette as I slowly worked through the quite generous pour seemed to help a bit. It was interesting scotch, but I can’t imagine working through a bottle.