Yamazaki Suntory 12 Years Old

This is the standard Yamazaki 12 Years Old, Suntory's flagship single malt from the distillery at Shimamoto in Osaka Prefecture, Japan's first malt whisky distillery and the spirit that did most to define the country's house style. Founded in 1923 by Shinjiro Torii, Yamazaki sits where the Katsura, Uji and Kizu rivers meet, in a pocket of soft humidity that aids slow maturation, and it runs a wide range of still shapes to build a layered spirit.

Matured for twelve years across American oak, Spanish sherry oak and Japanese mizunara, it carries ripe orchard fruit, honey and vanilla over a base of sherried dried fruit and chocolate, with the sandalwood and incense signature that mizunara lends to older Yamazaki. The balance is the point here, fruit and spice and gentle wood held in poise rather than any single element pushed forward. At 43% it stays soft and rounded, the bottling that established Yamazaki as a benchmark for Japanese single malt.