Yamazaki 12 Years Old

Yamazaki 12 Years Old is the core single malt from Suntory's Yamazaki distillery in Osaka Prefecture, Japan's first malt whisky distillery, founded in 1923 where the Katsura, Uji and Kizu rivers meet south of Kyoto. This is a Japan market release in the local 660ml format, bottled at 43%, the domestic presentation of the expression that became Japan's reference single malt.

Matured in Ex-Bourbon wood, with American oak giving vanilla and honeyed sweetness over the distillery's signature orchard fruit. In the house style the 12 typically carries a faint mizunara lift of sandalwood and incense alongside its softer fruit, drawn from the Japanese oak that features in the wider cask mix. The whole pour is balanced and rounded, light on its feet but layered, the kind of soft, complete malt that made this bottling a fixture on shelves at home and abroad.