ctbeck11
Yamazaki 18 Year
Single Malt — Honshu, Japan
Reviewed
November 15, 2020 (edited July 1, 2021)
Nose - red berry, apple, cherry, plum, date, marshmallow, subtle citrus, powdered sugar, wine, pecan, walnut, coffee, green spicy wood (which is generally how I register the mizunara influence), cracked pepper, honey, rich butterscotch, creamy vanilla, cinnamon, chocolate, nougat, mild ethanol burn.
Taste - milk chocolate, apple, cherry, butterscotch, powdered sugar, date, fig, plum, citrus juice, clove, cardamom, more berry, green spicy wood, wine, marshmallow, coffee, creamy vanilla, ginger, walnut, cinnamon, honey, nutmeg, mild alcohol bite, finishing medium length with boozy chocolate, sweet berry, and baking spice flavors.
This is beautifully well balanced. It is definitely better than most Japanese whiskies I’ve tried, with the possible exception of Nikka from the Barrel, but it’s close. The Nikka is obviously more youthful and bright, but I really like how it accents the overall profile. With the Yamazaki, you can smell and taste the age, which is nice, but the whole experience seems almost too balanced, too well integrated. Not boring, but there are no sharp edges or particularly noteworthy points to highlight.
Now, this is less of a critique on the whisky itself (which is obviously masterfully blended and meticulously tended), and more a commentary on my specific biases, which lean toward the harsher, more challenging profiles. Overall, it’s a cut or two above the ordinary and a pleasure to review. I hope to try the 12 year old soon and see whether the less mature expression is more interesting to my palate.
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Yamazaki is fool's fodder right now. Stunning whisky, always, but the prices are insane. Look elsewhere - expand your horizons past whisky.
@dhsilv2 Agree. I recently grabbed one at the screaming deal of $113. Absolutely not worth it and the 18 Year is a big step up in quality.
@WhiskeyLonghorn Thanks for providing the great insight. I really hope you’re right, both for the community and for our wallets.
Totally agree with @dhsilv2 ...the Yamazaki 12 isn’t worth chasing at all. Sure...ages ago at $40 (over 15 yr ago), it was a great buy. Now, at over $120, not so much.
Don't expect too much on that 12. It's....an ok whisky for sure but nothing worthy of chasing.
@ctbeck11 @ContemplativeFox if you take the long view of the whiskey, and I fed the larger drinks industry for the last 60-70 years, I’d say were in for another boom/bust cycle sometime this decade. Other drinks producers are taking note of whiskey’s rising popularity, and are trying to reclaim or get a piece of the market share. Witness the rise of hard seltzer (one shudders to think of consuming such a banal and poor alcohol delivery device....). This in part may contribute to whisky prices levelling off. Other factors worth considering are (1) the big boys (Buffalo Trace, Heaven Hill, Diageo, etc.) have all ramped up production during this boom, with stock that won’t be mature for the better part of a decade. Should the market fall out from under them in that time, we humble long-haul drinkers will have the pick of the litter of quality, AFFORDABLE product. Imagine a world where every time you walk in the store there’s a full line of Buffalo Trace products at MSRP gathering dust and Lagavulin 16 costs $60. (2) when you go to the store, look at how many bourbons and ryes are on the shelf. While some publications may laud the ingenuity and originality of craft distillers (or brewers or vintners), most of them won’t likely survive the decade, much less the pandemic. Those that do survive will be subject to market consolidation and get bought up by the Edringtons and the Brown-Foremans of the world. I feel fortunate to be (relatively) young still, and while yes we have a seemingly infinite number of tasty possibilities at our disposal right now, the future, for those who are diligent and patient, will bear even more delights for the committed whiskey drinker, and not the casual bourbon enthusiast who’ll lurch at the next drinks trend when the marketers tell them to. @ContemplativeFox your friend will see their Weller come back in due time. Sorry for the diatribe...I think about this a lot every time I can’t find a bottle of ECBP or Stagg Jr. cheers fellas.
@ctbeck11 @ContemplativeFox over a decade ago, Yamazaki 18 was what made me fall in love with whiskey. Back then, this was under $80. Now, it’s hard to justify these prices
I'll drink to that @ctbeck11 :) 🥃🥂
@ContemplativeFox Oof, that’s rough. Additional bad luck switching to Blanton’s. I’m hoping the market is adapting to the surge in demand for good, old whiskies and that we’ll have more tasty, affordable options in the future.
Seeing what those prices used to be always makes me sad and worried about what will happen in the future @ctbeck11. Still, I at least have some confidence that I'll be able to find something good going forward. I feel especially sorry for anyone who had their one thing they liked and then it got discovered. I work with someone who drank Weller SR his whole life (and his family has been drinking it for longer) but he isn't otherwise interested in whiskey. He switched to Blanton's when Weller got too difficult to find, but... He finally ran out back in March and I think has just been sad since then :( There are worse things than whiskey shortages though :)
@ContemplativeFox Yep, it seems I got into nice whiskey about a decade too late. I read often about the amazing values you could find back in the day.
Totally agree: one of the best Japanese, well-balanced, and mature. It had too much cherry for me when I tried it, but having gotten into more brandies and sherry bombs since, I suspect I'd like it better now. Unfortunately, last I saw this was going for something like $800, but I don't think it's worth more than $150.