Japanese whiskies are crafted in the Scottish style. We find they lie between Lowland and Speyside in style. Delicate and perfumed with honeyed sweetness. One regularly hears them described as being smooth, but that is doing them an injustice. Light sherry and floral notes, sometimes they have been peated for a smoky, quasi Islay style.
The burgeoning whisky Japanese industry has been largely attributed to its two founding fathers: Shinjiro Torii and Masataka Taketsuru. Shinjiro established the Suntory brand, founding the first distillery in Japan in 1923, Yamazaki in the Vale of Yamazaki. Taketsuru founded Yoichi on Hokkaido eleven years later. Today, Japanese whiskies are becoming increasingly popular and in a style of their own.