The Most Authoritative Book on Japanese Whisky Available Frankly I'm surprised there are no reviews and only 15 ratings for this book on Goodreads. Of The Most Authoritative Book on Japanese Whisky Available Frankly I'm surprised there are no reviews and only 15 ratings for this book on Goodreads. Of the four books listed below, while I haven't read the Roskrow book, I can't imagine it more comprehensive, authoritative, and in-depth than this book. Stefan Van Eycken has been deeply involved in the Japanese whisky world for decades, knows all the distilleries and their key personalities, and visited hundreds (thousands?) of Japanese whisky bars and knows the owners and their hidden treasures tucked in the back reserved for only the most special long-time customers.
As he says, it would be an impossible task to know them all, but he (and his liver) appear to have covered more ground than any other foreigner, and the fact that he was instrumental in creating the exclusive Ghost Series of bottlings of rare Karuizawas, Kawasakis, and Hanyu/Chichibus gives him massive street cred in the Japanese whisky world. I'm quite envious of those long-time foreign residents of Japan who followed the Japanese whisky scene during the lean years in the 1980s and 1990s before the boom created hordes of fans recently, and more problematically, the collectors/investors with deep pockets who have no intention of drinking them, essentially making them unavailable to actual whisky aficionados who would like to enjoy them as they were meant to, by drinking them.
This book is a handsome hardcover with loads of color photos of distilleries and hundreds of extremely rare expressions, so this may be as close as you will ever get to many as they only had out-turns of several dozen or hundred bottles, meaning they're either long gone or just a few mostly-empty bottles at exclusive bars with a single shot costing you hundreds of dollars.
Japanese whisky has become a classic victim of its own success, which is unfortunate, as unlike other works of art it is consumable. In any case, as it's become very expensive and difficult to get any of the age statements of Suntory (Yamazaki, Hakushu, Hibiki) and Nikka (Yoichi, Miyagikyo), and the very young whiskies of Chichibu (Ichiro's Malt) already costs hundreds of dollars due to a rabid fan base, it's become a very expensive hobby accessible mainly to well-paid, middle-aged whisky geeks.
Still with Japanese distilleries working hard to expand capacity and rebuilt their aged stocks, within 10 years the current shortage should be resolved, and if the current Japanese whisky booms cools off a bit, it will mean prices coming back down to earth, which would be a good thing for whisky drinkers (though bad for collectors). Below are the best books on Japanese whisky that I am aware of:
1) Whisky Rising: The Definitive Guide to the Finest Whiskies by Stefan Van Eycken 2) Whisky Japan: The Essential Guide to the World's Most Exotic Whisky by Dominic Roskrow 3) Japanese Whisky: The Ultimate Guide to the World's Most Desirable Spirit with Tasting Notes from Japan's Leading Whisky Blogger by Brian Ashcraft 4) The Way of Whisky: A Journey Around Japanese Whisky by Dave Broom...more
A Scotsman Delves into the Heart of Japanese Whisky Craftsmanship I've seen Dave Broom appear at various whisky events like the London Whisky Show, givA Scotsman Delves into the Heart of Japanese Whisky Craftsmanship I've seen Dave Broom appear at various whisky events like the London Whisky Show, give various talks (like for the Japan Society of NYC where he summarizes this book, which can be found on YouTube), and enjoy his passion for whisky and ability to describe it with eloquence, candor, humor and a lack of pretense. So when I searched for books on Japanese whisky, these seemed the most worthwhile. I ordered all four, and was excited to see Dave Broom wrote one:
1) Whisky Rising: The Definitive Guide to the Finest Whiskies by Stefan Van Eycken 2) The Way of Whisky: A Journey Around Japanese Whisky by Dave Broom 3) Japanese Whisky: The Ultimate Guide to the World's Most Desirable Spirit with Tasting Notes from Japan's Leading Whisky Blogger by Brian Ashcraft 4) Whisky Japan: The Essential Guide to the World's Most Exotic Whisky by Dominic Roskrow
Dave Broom has written on whisky and other spirits for nearly three decades, and has visited Japan 30 times over the years, mainly to visit Japanese whisky distilleries, learn from traditional artisans, and go eating and drinking in all the wonderful whisky bars and izakaya of Japan. Rather than just write another book on Japanese whisky that features histories and statistics and tasting notes for each distillery, his mission was to discover the links between Japanese cuisine, terroir, drinking culture, and traditional craftsmanship with the development of Japanese whisky.
The distilleries featured: Fuji Gotemba (Shizuoka) Mars Shinshu (Nagano) Hakushu (Yamanashi) Chichibu (Saitama) Chita (Aichi) Yamazaki (Osaka) White Oak (Hyogo) Yoichi (Hokkaido) Miyagikyo (Miyagi)
But this book is about more than just Japanese whisky, so dispersed between each distillery profile are features on a plethora of Japanese traditional crafts and the artisans who are keeping them alive while ensuring they evolve and avoid stagnation. His companion on this trip was photographer Kohei Take, who captures very evocative photos of their adventures and discoveries. The book itself and the photographs are very beautiful and capture the everyday moments of creation that form the heart of Japanese tradition arts and themes and how they relate to and shape Japanese whisky.
Here are the themes and crafts he discusses: Seasons, Whisky-do, Ryokan life, Shibui, Mizunara, Tokyo Bar Life, Bar Hopping, Lost Distilleries, New Distilleries, Umami, Washi, Craft (Tea, Sen no rikyu, Ceramics), Kaiseki, Glass, Highball, Blends, Incense, Nature, Pewter, Wabi-Sabi, Water, Zen, Kaizen
To give you an idea of the core themes and some major industry voices (and hopefully to get you interested in getting this book), here are a few sample passages:
[Talking with Mike Miyamamoto, Suntory’s Global Brand Ambassador, at Hakushu Distillery]:
How important then, is tradition? 'We believe that tradition and innovation must be combined. It's a difficult balance to achieve. When, for example, we need to replace or add stills we might not stick to the old shape-that's not tradition in a Scottish whisky-making sense. It is working with tradition in a fluid way.'
What helps to make it Japanese? 'The aim has been to produce a flavor that suits the gentle Japanese palate,' says Ono, 'but also I think the Japanese approach has always been to try and pursue perfection. It's in the blood.' 'And that is part of the tradition,' chips in Mike. 'Improve the character and quality, never be complacent, never be satisfied...that's the attitude.'
I was beginning to wonder if this could be squared with my attempt to align whisky-making with traditional craft practices. Japan's traditions, we are always told, are established on a reverence for the past, and are fixed in time and method. On the other hand, modern Japan is apparently all about copying, adapting, and conceivably improving. Are they two different approaches?
Perhaps I’ve been looking at this in an either/or fashion, that something can either be ultra-traditional or modern. Instead, the tradition is alive and fluid. There is a tendency to think of whisky in terms of a rigid continuity-a distillery style is fixed and improved upon, but remains constant. It is there like a fingerprint, a double helix of spirit and cask. The reality is more nuanced. Change is not just accepted, but welcomed. This is how things are: seasons, people, knowledge, understanding. To stand still is to reject natural process; it ends in you being left, fossilized, entombed in rock. Rather, and appropriately enough in this setting, you have to move with the wind in the pines....more
Fantastic primer on Japanese whisky distilleries, including their founders, history, master blenders, expressions, and also the history of Japanese drFantastic primer on Japanese whisky distilleries, including their founders, history, master blenders, expressions, and also the history of Japanese drinking culture, filled with great historical photos and historic documents What a great resource if you want to know more about the history and culture of Japanese whisky. If you're reading this review, you almost certainly know Suntory's famous Yamazaki and Hakushu single malts and their legendary Hibiki blend (featured in Bill Murray's hilarious commercial-filming scene in Lost in Translation), along with Nikka's Yoichi and Miyagikyo single malt whiskies and their Taketsuru Blended Malt that combines the two.
You might have first heard about Japanese whiskies when Suntory's Yamazaki Sherry Cask 2013 was awarded World's Best Whisky in his Whisky Bible 2015. Since then the prices for premium Japanese whiskies have skyrocketed, and the demand both overseas and in Japan for aged Japanese whiskies has been so strong that most age statements such as the Yamazaki 12, 18, 25, Hakushu 12, 18, 25, and Hibiki 12, 17, 21, 30 have virtually disappeared from shelves or command prices up to $10,000+ per bottle. Due to this, both Suntory and Nikka have essentially discontinued their aged offerings and mainly offer only NAS (non-age statement) expressions, making Japanese whisky a victim of its own popularity.
If you’re more of a Japanese whisky aficionado, you probably know of the legendary Hanyu Playing Card's 54-bottle series of Hanyu Distillery expressions that were bottled by Ichiro Akuto after saving 400 casks from his grandfather's shuttered distillery. It's one of the greatest underdog success stories in the whisky lexicon, and now his tiny Chichibu Distillery's recent releases command outrageous prices among collectors that rival far older expressions from giants like The Macallan, despite most being very young (often just 3-5 year’s maturation).
Then there is the other legendary lost Japanese distillery of Karuizawa, a victim of the severe slump in Japanese whisky industry that shuttered its doors in 2001, and whose precious remaining bottlings command tens of thousands of dollars on auctions, the ultimate in collectible Japanese whisky. Most of us are unlikely to ever have a chance to taste them, but there is plenty of romance and mystique that surrounds the name.
What you might not have known is that Masataka Taketsuru, the pioneer of Japanese whisky, was first sent to learn the art of Scottish whisky distilling as an intern at Longmorn Distillery in Speyside and Hazelburn in Campbeltown, wearing a white lab coat to reflect his chemist background. He eagerly learned the trade, met and married a Scottish woman named Rita Cowan in 1920, and returned to Japan in the hopes of realizing his dream to create proper Scotch whisky there.
He was hired by a drinks maker called Kotobukiya (later to become Suntory) in 1922, founded by the successful businessman Shinjiro Torii, to help establish Suntory's first whisky distillery, named Yamazaki, outside of Osaka in 1923. However, the first offering, a peated malt called Shirofuda, did not suit Japanese tastes and was a failure. Later on, he took the bold decision to quit and pursue his dream up in the cold and wild island of Hokkaido, founding the Dai Nippon Kaju company, later shortened to Nikka. He went on to create the Yoichi Distillery there in 1934, and later the Miyagikyo Distillery in Sendai in 1969. His story became more famous thanks to the Japanese drama Massan in 2014-15.
The book also introduces lesser-known Japanese whisky-makers, often sake or shochu brewers who ventured into Japanese whisky-making due to the boom in Japanese whisky over the past decade. We learn a great deal about the Eigashima Shuzo White Oaks Distillery near Kobe, the Hombo Shuzo Mars Whisky Shinshu Distillery in Nagano, and the Kirin Fuji Gotemba Distillery. The book highlights these as they actually distill most of their whisky in Japan. Be warned, for all the other Japanese whiskies that have sprung up amidst the boom, many use fancy packaging with elegant Japanese kanji calligraphy to mask the fact that they are importing Scotch whisky and only aging it in Japan, or using it in blends - names like Hatozaki, Togouchi, Kurayoshi, etc should not be considered true Japanese whiskies in substance, just in name.
Finally, each distillery chapter ends in a series of English whisky reviews translated from the original Japanese reviews by well-known Japanese whisky blogger Yuji Kawasaki. These are very interesting, and also feature more glossy photos of some very rare Japanese whiskies that would now cost your first-born child. Kawasaki likes to write about the places and times and activities that a whisky evokes for him, like a warm summer afternoon in a woodwork shop, or a fall day watching the scenery and listing to birds, and even more esoteric images. So they are highly subjective, even more so than the usual Scotch whisky tasting notes that tend to focus on nose, palette, mouth-feel, and finish. On top of that, they are translated so there’s another layer of interpretation. Still, it definitely makes you want to try these very rare and limited editions, but I think 75% of the whiskies are totally unavailable overseas, and many are so rare they probably have all been drunk already in Japan too, which is unfortunate.
This book also discusses the links between Japanese cuisine and Japanese whisky styles, specifically the most common form of drinking whisky in a highball, which is a whisky and soda that frequently goes with greasy Japanese soul food such as karaage (soy sauce-flavored fried chicken) or takoyaki (battered squid in round-shape). Taken neat, Japanese whiskies tend to be less intense and more delicate to go along with Japanese cuisine, intended to not overwhelm the umami (natural flavors of the ingredients).
The book is absolutely bursting with high quality photos and images of classic whisky advertisements, and is a well-written and handsome hardcover from Tuttle. The only disappointment is that the book is also littered with typos throughout, more than any other book I can remember. It's such a waste they didn't hire a competent proofreader - some are quite blatant, and takes away from the quality writing. But all in all, this is a great resource if you are interested in the booming and exotic world of Japanese whisky....more
One of the funniest and most insightful books ever written by an insider about Japan's mind-boggling bureaucracy. His time in the US has clearly corruOne of the funniest and most insightful books ever written by an insider about Japan's mind-boggling bureaucracy. His time in the US has clearly corrupted his mind with foreign ideas, making him no longer suited for the hive-mind found in government and corporate organizations. I see this everyday in the Japanese corporate world (Dilbert World). Like receiving compliance training on the handling of client information when our department has no contact with clients~ The episode he describes about taking vacation is priceless!...more
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