Hi all,
I need to buy a thank you present for an in-law who did a huge service for me (basically paved the way for me to live comfortably in Japan).
He’s Irish and into whisky, and has told me he’s enjoyed a few good Japanese whiskies in the past.
Can anyone recommend a good japanese whisky I can take for him?
Looking to spend up to 1.5 万円 and travelling in about a month.
Anything with a cool background story (eg 1000-yr old family distillery, etc) is a big bonus.
Thanks!
6 comments
Age stated japanese whiskeys are stratospherically expensive still but you can get NAS single malts for 8000-15000 pretty easy. I’m personally a fan of Nikka’s Yoichi which is around 8-9,000.
Chita is a pretty good one that’s not to expensive!
Japanese whisky prices have gone into the stratosphere and the previously easily available superb drams are now impossible to find and wildly overpriced.
You will get far more value for money if you go with Taiwanese whisky instead, and it might be something he gets to try that he’s never heard of before. For example you can get the absolutely superb [Kavalan Solist Oloroso Sherry Cask Strength](https://thewhiskystudy.com/worldwhiskyreviews/kavalan-soloist-oloroso-sherry-cask-strength-single-cask-review) on Amazon, sold by Amazon Japan, [for just slightly above your budget](https://www.amazon.co.jp/gp/product/B007A9JSTI/ref=ox_sc_act_image_1?smid=AN1VRQENFRJN5&psc=1).
Edit: It will be a better whisky than anything Japanese you can find even for 3x the price. It’s really sad what has happened with Japanese whisky prices. 🙁
Ichiro’s Malt double distilleries. A whiskey from a small distillery in Chichibu that created the world-renowned poker series. Really interesting background story.
Check out anything from Mars Hombu. Not yet discovered so reasonably priced. The Komagatake line is some of the best I’ve ever had. The Cosmo kills everything in the 4000 yen per bottle category.
Wakatsuru Moon Glow 10 years [(link)](https://www.wakatsuru.co.jp/saburomaru/moon-glow/) seems to be pretty good, according to a friend I got one for.
Retail price is 9800 yen, I found it last year at YaMaYa although I don’t know how availability is now. Seems to be on Rakuten for about 11000 though.