An update on this event submitted by Charlie McCartan;

Suntory Distilleries Whisky Tasting  at Nickolls and Perks cellars 18th November 2009

Wednesday 18th November £15
Tom Jones/Suntory Japanese Whiskies
Yamazaki 12 yo
Yamazaki Peated 1993 62%
Yamazaki Sherry butt 48%
Yamazaki 18 YO
Hibiki 15 YO
Hakushu 12 YO

The night started with us gathering to take our seats and sample some of Yamazaki’s 12 year old  while  Master Blender Dr Koichi Inatomi AKA Dr Tomi gave us a very full background to whisky distilling in Japan, the cultural and business reasons of why and when it grew up. We then got a photographic tour round the Suntory Distillery in Yamazaki, a suburb of Kyoto. All the while the cellars filling with the aromatic smell of the Yamazaki 12 year old.

Then on to more tasting,  a Yamazaki 18 year old – very dark flavours – Green & Black’s 85% Dark Chocolate, intense raisin and black cherry. Followed by Yamazaki Sherry Cask 48% ABV but very smooth and fruity and the one I would love to try as an ice-cream flavour!

A break now to savour what was left of the sherry cask and clean the palate with some cheese and oatcakes. Then on with the tasting, it’s a tough life…

The second half was devoted to whiskies made at the Hakushu Distillery high in the mountains above Tokyo kicking off with Hakushu 12 year old, a little-known and therefore under-rated complexly flavoured whisky. Next was the bit hitter of the night for me – Hibiki 12 year old. Only launched this year, this is matured in plum liqueur cask and this fact hits you as soon as you smell it. Not a bit fan of plums myself, the aroma nevertheless is a sumptuous fruity blast. A very notable and distinctive whisky, as are the Hibiki bottles made with 24 faces to commemorate the old Japanese calendar of 24 months. 

The Hibiki 17 year old Blended was for me overshadowed by the massive plummy aroma that was still with me from the 12 year old but a taste I grabbed of it later confirmed its quality. While we lingered over the whiskies Dr Tomi told us of how Japanese whisky was never marketed abroad until 2003 when Yamazaki 12 year old won a gold medal at the International Spirits Challenge and they realised their products were good enough to sell to the world! Exports have roughly doubled every year since then, while the number of awards has increased every year. Given the quality we tasted on the night it’s not hard to see why.

Dr Tomi stayed to chat and answer questions from the forty-ish people present before saying goodnight and heading for an Indian restaurant. We hope he will be back.

Some future tastings at Nickolls and Perks

All tasting events start 7:30pm.

We are 15 mins from M5/M42 Junction

Contact David for Tickets on 01384 394518 or see http://www.Finemaltwhisky.co.uk for all details.

Tuesday 24th November £20
Douglas Laing with Jan Beckers
Rosebank OMC 1990 19 YO 50%
Bladnoch OMC 1992 16 YO 50 %
Speysides Finest OMC 1991 17 YO 50 %
Macallan OMC 1993 13 YO RUM FINISH 50 %
Caol Ila OMC 1990 19YO 50%
Ardbeg OMC 1991 18 YO 50 %

Thursday 3rd December £25
Andrew Gray lets us at em!
Bruichladdich Classic Laddy
Bruichladdich 17 YO Rum
Bruichladdich Infinity 3rd Ed
Bruichladdich X4 3YO 63.5%
Bruichladdich 12 YO
Bruichladdich PC 8

See http://www.Finemaltwhisky.co.uk for all details.