Yamazaki 9 Years Old 2009

This 2009 Yamazaki comes from Suntory's Osaka Prefecture distillery, the first malt site in Japan, set in the humid Shimamoto valley between Osaka and Kyoto. Bottled in 2019 at 9 Years Old for the Japanese market in a 500ml format, it is a younger expression at full strength, drawn from an uncommon cask type for the house.

Maturation took place in an ex-Montilla wine cask, fortified wine wood that lends a sherried sweetness with its own twist. At 55% it shows chocolate and dried fruit, cooked orchard fruit and honey, lifted by a fresh, new wood note. Concentrated and a little youthful, it sits in the house style of fruit and wine cask sweetness while bringing a less familiar wood to Yamazaki's range.