The Secret Flavors Of Japan

Dive deeper into the rich world of Nippon Whiskies.

Two guys named Masataka Taketsuru and Shinjiro Torri took everything they knew about Scotch and established Nikka and Suntory. Seventy years later, these two behemoths are the mainstream of Japanese Whisky. But there’s also a rich world of lesser known amber Spirits in Nippon. If those two are The Beatles, these bad boys are The Sex Pistols. Let’s celebrate the new kids on the block!

The Japanese booze landscape is teeming with extravagantly different, under-the-radar, rare and straight up bonkers Spirits: a lovely sake-like Spirit, bottled at 42.1% ABV; a 100% malted barley Whisky proofed with the famous volcanic stone filtered water; or a lovely Whisky finished in Mizunara oak casks and bottled at 43% ABV. It sounds like we’re making this up, but these are real Spirits and they jubilate the Japanese ingenuity and imagination.

Also, they demand your attention. See, the Japanese took a great tune from Scotland, covered it for a while, then invented a whole new genre with crazy melodies, twists and remixes – and, just like that, they created a new hit! They used to be apprentices, the Japanese, but now they’re kicking ass – even with their lesser known expressions. Put on your leather jacket and hang out with the cool kids.

Kanpai!

Smartass Corner

1) Shorthand for Japanese craft Whisky is "Ji-Whisky", which appropriately sounds like "gee wizz", as most of the Whiskies coming from the Land of the Rising Sun are pure poetry.

2) World War II was great for Japanese Whisky, since the armed forces guzzled every drop available. It's still considered the most profitable era.

3) Japanese Whisky has so much in common with Scotch (it was modeled on it, after all), it kept the Scottish spelling without an "e", rather than following the American or Irish tradition.

4) One of the not-so-secret reasons for the unique flavor of the Japanese Whisky is the Mizunara Oak, an ancient tree that's also used for fancy furniture.

5) Japanese laws are quite loose when it comes to Whiskies, and they permit blends of imported and domestic Whisky to be sold as "Japanese Whisky". On the other hand, aged rice and barley Shochu can be legally exported as "Whisky" to the US market - but since the process uses koji fungi to convert starches into sugars, it's illegal to call it Whisky in Japan and EU.

6) In Japan, you can buy travel-sized Whisky bottles from vending machines like a bag of Skittles! The most popular Whisky drink in Japan is the Highball, a mix of Japanese Whisky and club soda. (Also Winston Churchill's favorite drink, except he drank Red Label.)

7) Japan is the second biggest producer of Single Malt Whisky and Japanese Whisky even got better ratings than Scotch in blind tastings. 

8) The Japanese drink more Whisky than the Scots and they produce more than the United States.