A century since pharmaceutical wholesaler and wine merchant Shinjiro Torii established Japan’s first malt whisky distillery in Yamazaki, near Kyoto, spirits purveyor House of Suntory has released two editions to mark the milestone. The most impressive is the 21-Year-Old Hibiki 100th anniversary edition, available at Harrods for an eye-watering £5,200, which highlights whisky from casks formed of scarce, native, slow-growing Mizunara oak. Initially unforgiving, Mizunara yields inimitable flavours of sandalwood after a long maturation, acting like a magnet for collectors. Here, such scents coalesce with jasmine, delicate incense, then a lifted orange warmth on the palate. Meanwhile, the Hibiki Japanese Harmony 100 comes in an appealing bottle replete with motifs of snow, moon and flowers depicting Japan’s changing seasons — and a significantly less frightening price tag of £210. With a little Mizunara influence, the rose, peach and white chocolate-esque dram hints at the greatness of the special 21-Year-Old. Though for the even more thrifty of you, I have a Japanese whisky that provides pleasure at an everyday price. Available for £28 from Waitrose,Toki (or ‘time’) is a lighter style, evoking pink grapefruit zest, grape and lemon balm, and makes for a lip-tingling highball or mint julep, which I enjoy regularly.
