Yamazaki 12 Years Old

Yamazaki 12 Years Old, bottled in 1999, is an early release of the single malt from Suntory's Yamazaki distillery in Osaka Prefecture, Japan's first malt distillery, founded in 1923 in the valley of Shimamoto where the Katsura, Uji and Kizu rivers meet. This Japan market bottling at 43% comes from the period when Yamazaki was still establishing itself as the country's reference single malt, before its wider international fame.

Matured in Ex-Bourbon wood, the American oak frames vanilla and honey over the distillery's soft orchard fruit. In the house style the aged 12 typically carries a faint sandalwood lift from the Japanese oak in the wider cask mix, threading through its gentle fruit. This older bottling drinks balanced and rounded, light yet complete, a snapshot of Yamazaki in its formative years and of the soft, layered signature that would go on to define the brand.