Yamazaki is Suntory's flagship single malt whisky, from Japan's first and oldest malt distillery. This 12 year old first came onto the market in 1984 and was the first seriously marketed Japanese single malt whisky. Since then, it has acquired something of a cult following, and for good reason! A wonderfully elegant and smooth single malt that’s certainly not lacking in flavour.
Good body with plenty of nut oils and zest, a pleasant floral character with a little tropical fruit and a rooty note.
Smooth and soft with good sweetness and winter spice. A lovely citrus note develops with more tropical fruit notes and a little rum.
Medium with fruit and zest.
This is training wheels for Scotch.
Very smooth, well balanced, & tasty!
Dropped in one small ice cube, swirreled for several seconds and removed the ice cube. The smell of ripe bananas exploded and the finish reminded me of artichoke petals dipped in butter.Lovely!
a whiskey to savour a very good flavour profile
Acquired this after all hoopla exploded about Suntory's Yamazaki (mainly due to the Sherry cask version). I generally drink single-malt Scotch and straight Bourbon and, mainly because I am research before you buy person, I have generally had a wonderful journey through the world of whisky. I can honestly say, this was the first time I have felt let-down by a single malt. It's not that it's bad, it has an interesting and quite unique nose (which I think the MoM tasting notes are pretty on point about, though banana is the tropical fruit I think they are talking about) and the body is pretty full and substantial. That said, it isn't all that engaging and it feels muddled, with that banana stomping all over the short hints of sherry and citrus in the palate. That said, if you find the flavor profile interesting (and a lot of people do), then it would be easy to recommend at 40-50 dollars. Which brings us to price: even if I loved the profile, the execution is too muddled and fuzzy (almost blended-malt like) to be even remotely worth 80-100 dollars they are now charging for the 12. At 40 bucks it'd be reasonable, at 80+ it's just plain overpriced.
