While Japan has become incredibly well-known for its whisky over the past 20 years, its whisky history stretches back much further. With the first dedicated whisky distillery starting in 1928, there are more than one hundred years of bottlings to look back on, and while they were often not that popular on release, they have become sought-after in more recent times. Add to those more recently distilled and bottled releases, and you have a wide range of old and rare whiskies that drinkers and collectors seek out.
This list covers some of the more famous producers and bottles, but when you start digging, you quickly realise that there is a whole world of Japanese whisky that hasn’t been seen outside of its native country.
Suntory
Suntory is Japan’s original whisky maker. The company hired chemist Masataka Taketsuru in 1923, after the company that had sent him to Scotland to learn how to make whisky had decided not to continue their project. Taketsuru and Shinjiro Torii, owner of Kotobukiya, as Suntory was called at the time, chose Yamazaki, an area between Kyoto and Osaka, as the site of Japan’s first whisky distillery. It was built quickly, with the first spirit running in December 1924.
In the 100 years since, Kotobukiya has become Suntory, and its one distillery has grown to be a multinational portfolio, with its three main Japanese distilleries (Yamazaki, Hakushu and Chita) joined by distilleries in the USA and Scotland. The company’s Japanese releases have included some excellent whiskies over the years, with many now falling into the old and rare category.
Yamazaki
As Suntory’s oldest distillery, Yamazaki’s releases have often been the company’s oldest and rarest. While Yamazaki 18 Year Old and Yamazaki 25 Year Old can be hard to get hold of, it’s the even older, limited editions that are most sought after.
Yamazaki 50 Year Old has seen a number of releases over the years, with a bottle of the original 2005 release being the most expensive Japanese whisky bought at auction for many years. It was, however, surpassed in age by the 2020 release of Yamazaki 55 Year Old, which, as of writing, holds the record for the oldest Japanese single malt whisky.