Japan, Osaka. Distillery operational. Owner: Suntory

If ever the Scottish distillery Macallan had an alter ego, it would be Yamazaki. The doyen of Japanese distilleries, Yamazaki has, since the closure of Karuizawa in the early 2000s, dominated the sherry cask maturation scene with its standard bearer The Yamazaki 18 Year Old and the now very rare Yamazaki 25 Year Old. Sherry has become Yamazaki's trademark, with numerous medals and awards recognizing its expertise in and mastery of this style of maturation in demanding latitudes. A large number of small batch versions - such as The Yamazaki Distiller's Sherry Edition 2013, and single casks - such as The Yamazaki Elephant Private Cask 3T70070, have played their part in this. Yamazaki is also renowned for its Mizunara Japanese oak casks, such as The Yamazaki 1986 Owner's Cask 6G5029 and its small batch vintage versions which demonstrate the master blender's skill in marrying casks from different origins (Spain, America, Japan) and different woods (sherry, bourbon, mizunara), such as in The Yamazaki 25 Year Old 1984.

A single cask Yamazaki (#3T 70070) distilled in 1993 and bottled at cask strength in 2012 after sherry cask maturation for La Maison du Whisky. La Maison du Whisky was one of the first distributors of Suntory in Europe. When the collaboration came to an end, Suntory sent La Maison du Whisky four samples, inviting the company to choose one. It was the sample of this Yamazaki 1993 that unanimously won the vote. The label, a simple uncopyrighted image found on the internet, sometimes nicknamed the Yamazaki elephant, perfectly represents the imposing but calm character of this whisky, which some consider to be one of the distillery’’s finest. In the 2000s, Suntory occasionally bottled casks for private individuals, bars and companies like the Owner’’s Casks. This practice ended in the 2010s, with the growing success of Japanese whisky placing too much pressure on stocks. This was the end of the Owner’’s Cask, The Cask and the Vintage Malts. Since then, even bottlings with age statements have become difficult to find. Some have simply been discontinued.