25 Years In Mizunara Oak Makes For An A-Miz-ing Whisky

The sample bottle of Yamazaki’s 25 Years Old Mizunara from which I, um, sampled. The real bottle is, needless to say, nicer. (Photo by me)

In late June, while on a press trip to Japan with global spirits behemoth Suntory, I was one of the first “civilians” (meaning non-Suntory employees) to taste a closely-guarded new whisky from the Yamazaki distillery, aged for 25 years entirely in Mizunara oak. It’s Yamazaki’s oldest-ever 100% Mizunara-aged expression, and it’s got to be up there with the oldest by anyone. Pretty damn cool, right? But there was a catch. I couldn’t write about it or even tell anyone about it for six weeks or so, until Suntory’s embargo lifted and the press release went out to the masses (actually, they gave Food & Wine, the publication for which I was writing the article, a three-hour window of exclusivity before they sent out the press release).

It was not easy to keep from blabbing about it, but the time has finally come and the article is out and the whisky in question is presumably available and certifiably very tasty. It’s also $7,500, which might reduce its appeal just a bit for some of us. With that in mind, I encourage you to check out my article about it, which is absolutely free. Link is -> HERE <-.