Yamazaki 25 Year Old

What it is

Yamazaki 25 is the top of the core Yamazaki single malt range, above the 12 and the 18. It comes from Yamazaki, the distillery Shinjiro Torii built in 1923 near Kyoto and the oldest malt distillery in Japan. Bottled at 43%, no age statement games, just 25 years minimum in cask.

Where it comes from

Suntory states on the product page that Yamazaki 25 meets the Japan Spirits and Liqueurs Makers Association labelling standard, and separately confirms that every exported Suntory whisky is 100% distilled, matured and bottled in Japan. No imported whisky. Given how many Japanese labels turn out to contain Scotch or Canadian grain, having the producer say it outright is the useful part.

How it's made

Suntory doesn't break the 25 down cask by cask, but the range is built on three oak types: American oak for vanilla and coconut, Spanish oak for the dried fruit and depth, and Japanese mizunara for the incense and sandalwood character. The 25 is generally the most sherry driven of the core range. Yamazaki runs an unusually varied still house, with pot stills of different shapes and sizes, which gives the blenders a wide set of component whiskies to work from before the casks even come into it.

What to expect

Rich and resinous, heavier than the 12 or 18. Dried fruit, dark chocolate and polished wood, with the mizunara incense note that people either chase or find a bit much. At 43% it's softer than the strength suggests.

How it compares

Worth not confusing with Yamazaki 25 Mizunara, a separate release matured entirely in Japanese oak and bottled at 48%. Different whisky, different price, and the two get muddled by retailers constantly. Against the Yamazaki 18 the step up is real but not proportional to the price, which is set by scarcity more than anything in the glass. Against Hibiki 30 it's the single malt argument rather than the blending one: narrower, more intense, and more obviously the product of one place.