Yamazaki 18 Years Old

Yamazaki 18 Years Old, bottled in 2024, is a senior single malt from Suntory's Yamazaki distillery in Osaka Prefecture, Japan's first malt distillery, founded in 1923 in the humid Shimamoto valley where three rivers converge. This Europe market release is a mizunara focused expression bottled at cask strength, 48%, in a 700ml format, drawn from the older tier of the Yamazaki range.

Matured in Japanese mizunara oak, the leaky, slow giving wood lends its signature sandalwood and incense, deepening into the listed chocolate over long years in cask. At cask strength the aromatic mizunara character turns concentrated over the distillery's mature orchard fruit, the higher proof carrying the wood's resin and spice with real weight. It is a deep and layered showing of the Japanese oak signature reserved for older Yamazaki, perfumed and full, rewarding a little water and unhurried time in the glass.