Yamazaki Smoky Batch

A Smoky Batch single malt from Yamazaki in Osaka Prefecture, the Suntory distillery that opened Japan's malt whisky era in 1923 in the valley of Shimamoto. Set where the Katsura, Uji and Kizu rivers meet, the distillery runs a wide range of stills and recipes. This release is a smokier take on the house, carrying no age statement and bottled for the Japanese market at 43%.

Matured in ex-Bourbon oak with a smoked component shaping the batch. The profile sets the distillery's vanilla and orchard fruit against a dry, husky smoke and a faint ashy edge, the wood adding a clean, gentle spice. At 43% the whisky stays soft and rounded, the smoke lending savoury grip rather than heft. It closes balanced and lightly spiced, a restrained, smoke shaded reading of the familiar Yamazaki character.