Spirits
Yamazaki 12 Year Single Malt
$165
Why Al Buys This
“Because some things are simply what they are, and this is one of them. The rest is just logistics.”
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Al's Full Endorsement
Yamazaki 12 is where Japanese whisky begins for the serious drinker. It's made by Suntory at the oldest whisky distillery in Japan — founded 1923, which is relevant mostly because a hundred years of refinement is visible in the glass.
The flavor profile varies slightly by batch, but you're looking at honey, dried fruit, some vanilla, and in fortunate expressions, a distinct note from mizunara — Japanese oak — that gives you a spicy, almost incense-like quality you won't find anywhere else. It's not a peated whisky, it's not a sherry bomb, it's not a bourbon-forward expression. It's precise.
It costs more than it used to because demand exceeded supply and the world discovered it simultaneously. This is annoying, but the whisky itself is not responsible for the market conditions, and I decline to hold it against it.
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