Best whiskey isn't from Scotland

by Sarah J. Gim, Posted Apr 28th 2008 @ 6:40PM

Let's just call this year "Suntory time."

For the first time, whiskey produced outside of Scotland has won awards for best in the world by Whisky Magazine.

In the single malt competition, Yoichi 20 years old, which is distilled near the city of Sapporo on the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido, beating out a number of other ostly Scottish brands. Judges chose Yoichi 20 for its "amazing mix of big smoke and sweet blackcurrant," "explosive aroma" and "big, long and sweet finish." The best blended whiskey award went to Suntory Hibiki, the same brand that was used in the movie Lost in Translation (hence, "Suntory time").

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Tags: asia, europe, scotch, whiskey, whisky

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Reader comments (Page 1 of 1)

4-29-2008 @1:47AM Red Icculus said... I still go between preferring Jameson, the sweet Catholic whiskey, or Bush Mills, the dry Protestant whiskey.

Whiskey goes up in price for aging or rarity. I will stick with what I know.

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5-01-2008 @10:09PM Japanese Whisky said... I think the Times got it wrong when it said that this is the first time Japanese whiskies have won the top awards at the Whisky mag prizese. Nevertheless, to scoop the two most significant prizes - best single malt and best blend - was a very significant development. Anyone who wants to know a bit more about these whiskies from Japan might want to take a look at the main English language site: www.nonjatta.blogspot.com. It is an independent site, done by a group of whisky fans, so is a bit less sugared than the Suntory and Nikka sites.
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