Yamazaki 22 Years Old 1980

Yamazaki 22 Years Old 1980 is a single cask 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. Distilled in 1980 and bottled in 2002 for the Japan market, it draws from one cask at cask strength, 50%, a long aged release from the distillery's early decades.

Matured in a single white oak cask of the Ex-Bourbon type, the American oak gives deep vanilla, honey and a mellow sweetness built over more than two decades in wood. At cask strength the spirit shows concentrated orchard fruit and a resinous oak depth, the long maturation lending weight and a waxy richness. It is an undiluted look at long aged Yamazaki from a single barrel, layered and full in the house style, the kind of older single cask that rewards a careful drop of water and slow sipping.