Yamazaki 18 Year

Produced at Suntory's Yamazaki distillery near Osaka — Japan's oldest whisky distillery, founded in 1923 — the 18 Year is a blended single malt that showcases the facility's extraordinary range of cask types: mizunara oak, sherry, bourbon, and wine casks all contributing to a uniquely complex profile. Tasting notes include plum, fig, clove, coconut, and a honeyed sweetness that is unmistakably Japanese in its delicacy. Jim Murray awarded it 97.5 points in his Whisky Bible 2015 edition, triggering a global shortage that has persisted for years.