Whisky tasting at Yamazaki Whisky Museum, Japan

I've been to the Yamazaki Whisky Museum twice. Apparently, they do some of the best whisky, particularly the Hibiki and their own Yamazaki. The distillery is located outside of Kyoto at the foot of Mt.Tennozan. It's no a coincidence the museum is located here, as the area is famed for having some of the best natural mineral water sources in Japan.

The first time I went, I did the whole whisky distillery tour, followed by the whisky tasting session, and ended with a couple more drams of the whisky from the tasting counter (not me personally, but hubby!)

Distillery tour

I've been to quite a few whisky distillery tours in Scotland in the past, and have a brief idea of how things work. This is the first one outside of UK I've been to. It's very interesting to see the operation and some of the similarities with those in Scotland.

During the tour, we were taken through each of the stages of the whisky-making process, from the malting, to fermentetion, distillation and eventual cask maturation in the storehouse.

Whisky tasting

The cost of the distillery tour includes a whisky tasting. For whisky lovers, this is a great chance to taste a variety of their products. If you don't drink, you can have non-alocoholic drinks instead. I don't drink, but I don't mind trying a little bit, and if I didn't finish, there was someone next to me who would be more than happy to finish off my drink!

There were nibbles and chocolate on the table to accompany the tasting session, as well as a bottle of premium soda water to cleanse your palate between each whisky. In addition, guides wandered around the area and were happy to answer questions people had.

Whisky Museum and Library

For those who don't want to do the fee paying tour of the distillery and whisky tasting, you can still visit the museum which is free of charge. Here, you can learn about the history of Yamazaki and how it's founder, Shinjiro Torii, started everything in 1923. One of the main exhibit at the museum is a massive pot that used to be used in the distillery many years ago. It was very fascinating to see that right in the middle of the room surrounded by so many whiskies.

Another highlight of the museum is the Whisky Library. This section houses over 7000 bottles of whisky from various years and location and is not just restricted to those produced by Yamazaki. It was a bit like walking through history, admiring some of the different bottle shapes, and trying to find the oldest one on display.

Tasting Counter

Last and not the least, this was hubby's favourite part of the visit. Although we had finished the whisky tasting session, the ones we tried, weren't some of the best stuff. Not that I would know as I don't drink whisky. Hubby had his eye on some of the premium whiskys.

Hibiki 21 and Yamazaki 18 are some of the finest and most sought after whisky around now. They are hard to come by and even if available are very expensive. Hubby, of course, took advantage of the opportunity to try a dram here. Needless to stay, he was extremely satisfied with his choice, including the Hibiki 21 even though he's not normally a fan of blended whisky.

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If you're a whisky fan, the Yamazaki Whisky Museum is definitely worth a visit if you are in Osaka or Kyoto in Japan. You can get there easily by train (you wouldn't drive anyway otherwise you can't drink). It only takes half an hour from Osaka and 15 minutes from Kyoto. And then it's a ten minute walk from the station. And don't' forget to book in advance if you want to do the distillery tour. Here's the link for it
https://www.suntory.com/factory/yamazaki/introduction/

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