Yamazaki 12 Years Old

Yamazaki 12 Years Old is the benchmark single malt from Suntory's Yamazaki distillery in Osaka Prefecture, Japan's first malt distillery, founded in 1923 in the humid Shimamoto valley between Osaka and Kyoto where three rivers converge. This expression was released for the European market and is bottled at 43% in a 700ml format, the reference point for the category for a generation of drinkers.

Matured in Ex-Bourbon wood, American oak frames vanilla and honey over the distillery's signature orchard fruit. In the house style the aged 12 typically carries a faint mizunara lift of sandalwood and incense alongside its softer fruit and gentle spice, drawn from the Japanese oak in the wider cask mix. The pour is balanced and rounded, light yet layered, in the soft and complete manner that defined Japanese single malt abroad and made Yamazaki a household name on European shelves.