Japanese Whiskies you should try

THE WORLD OF FINE FOODS USED TO BE A smaller, simpler place. If you wanted wine, you’d look to those from France. For coffee, only Italian espresso would do. This is no longer the case. And with whisky from Japan recently voted the best in the world, it seems another sacred cow – that only the whiskies from the glens will do – has been led to the slaughter.

Earlier this year, Japanese whisky scored a historic double when the Yoichi 20 Years Old and Suntory Hibiki scooped the best single malt and blended whisky awards respectively in an international blind-tasting competition organised by Whisky magazine. While Dave Broom, who chaired the panel of judges, declared that it was an astonishing achievement, others like Emmanuel Dron of La Maison du Whisky in Singapore, have put down the surprise to a general lack of awareness about Japanese whisky.

Indeed, although our first clue about Japanese whisky might have come from seeing Bill Murray in a Suntory whisky advertisement in 2003’s Lost in Translation, the Japanese have been producing and enjoying their version of the “water of life” since the 1920s.

In the19th century, Masataka Taketsuru, the “Father of Japanese whisky”, was sent like many of his peers to the West to learn and borrow from it Where others were sent to study the German army or British civil service, Taketsuru was sent to Scotland to learn the art of making scotch. And for a long time, it was thought impossible that the Japanese student could make Scotch style whisky better than the masters, but such prejudice must now be buried According to Emmanuel Dron, the student has been able to best the teacher because of the Japanese near-religious quest for perfection. This has led them to preserve old methods like coal-fired pot stills, while also being able to innovate. As for blends, because the Japanese only use their own whiskies, their blenders have an intimate knowledge of what they are working with.

Inevitably, there has been much consternation in Scotland at this year’s result (though nothing like the French sulk after American wines beat theirs in a blind-tasting competition in 1976 and 2006). But perhaps the Scots should take heart from Nietzsche who once said “One repays a teacher badly if one remains only a pupil”.

YOICHI 20 YEARS OLD
This is the puppy that won the World’s Best Single Malt award this year. The judges, waxed Iyrical about its “amazing mix of big smoke and sweet blackcurrant” and “big, long and sweet finish.”

NIKKA FROM THE BARREL
This holds the accolade of Best Japanese Blended Whisky at The World Whiskies Awards 2007. It s a great introduction to Nikka whiskies, as it is made out of blends from the two Nikka distilleries, Yoichi and Miyagiko – big, spicy and ideal as a mizuwari (i.e. with lots of ice and water).

SUNTORY HIBIKI 17 YEARS OLD
This multi-award winning tipple is for those who are not into big smoke. Sweet and smooth, this is the rich, well-rounded and elegant blend popularized by Lost In Translation. It comes in a pretty bottle too.