I love the way you tell us about the history behind these awesome drinks 🙏🏻

This can now be bought in Israel. Prices are on average about 500 Shekels (about £100). It is not approved for the strictly kosher consumer as (as you say) it does contain some wine cask maturation.

Dude these new videos are killing it!!! Love the bump in quality! Great job^^

Love these videos. High energy and informative. 10/10.

Great review and video! Thanks as always for sharing your knowledge in such an entertaining style.

Fantastic as always Mac. So much wonderful Japanese Whisky knowledge being gently poured into my slow brain. Cheers!

日本のコンビニでは、180mlの山崎と白州が売っていることがあります。しかし、3,4ヶ月に一度であり、すぐに売り切るため、山崎が売れ残っているコンビニを探し歩くことになります。買えた時にはとても幸運です。

Excellent vid Mak, so enthusiastic despite not being particularly enthused by the whiskey. I am now a little bit wiser than when I woke up.

Lovely review, Mac. I remember that I first bought this in 2014, actually together with the Hakushu Distiller's Reserve, and that I was pleasantly surprised by its quality, especially if compared against the Hakushu product. But similar to what Greg appears to have noticed with the Hakushu, later batches soon lost their initial lustre. Now I have not been to Japan in more than three years but once I will be back later this year I plan to check it out and see where this has gone in the meantime. Kanpai!

love your channel and the information you bring (also absolutely loved your sake making sessions, so jealous) I am an ambassador for Suntory in Australia and really enjoy learning from your knowledge on all things Japanese whisky, I also wish i could go back in time to get Suntory making more whisky in the late 90's, one of the aspects of Yama production I was taught is the difference in cask choices between the 12yr and the DR is Yama DR incorporates Red wine cask from Bordeaux whilst the age statement use Mizunara, so both use sherry, ex bourbon etc, but the 12 uses Mizunara, and the DR uses Red wine cask, also, as a fan of your work, i would love to meet next time I'm in Japan.

Greetings mate. Just subbed to your channel because this is highly interesting stuff. I'm from Germany, maybe I can give a little more, unfortunately not too much new insights into the matter of Coloring Whiskys and how this is regulated here. First and foremost, I bought the Distillers Reserve last year in October for a whopping 83 Euros (it's pretty hard to get it any cheaper here). I had the chance to get the 12 years old for 150 Euros, but I'm not willing to pay such prices. Would sure love to taste one of Suntorys aged Whiskys though. But the prices are even going way up, even for the NAS ones. The Yamazaki Distillers Reserve, if you can manage to get it, is up to 90 Euros and above. The Hibiki had a price raise a few years ago, but had been stable so far, it's way more easy to get this one here. I'm not able to get the Hakusho at all anymore, not even the NAS version. But seeing that even Whiskys from Scotland took a price hike, it's not that surprising seeing that the Suntory Whiskys are getting even more expensive now. Since I've tasted the core range of the NAS version from Suntory, only the Yamazaki is left and I'm curious and full of joy to taste it myself after your review here. Coming back to the coloring topic. Normally, this is heavily regulated in Germany. I own the still unopened bottle of the Yamazaki with the new packaging, neither on the gift box nor on the bottle is any mentioning of added color. So this is a pretty good indicator that there is no added color. But there is this little "But". The Whisky was mainly available for Travel Retail here in Germany. It's been mostly distributed to Airports and a few shops are able to grab some of the overstock. I don't know if this is handled differently when it comes to the Travel Retail. I've never seen the Yamazaki in any local store and it's hard to get even in German Online-Shops. Saying that, it's the most easy thing to get your hands on Alcohol in Germany, but it's still hard to get the Yamazaki and almost impossible to get the Hakusho. But if there are no different regulations when it comes to the Travel Retail, then it's safe to assume there is no caramel added to the spirits. But of course we can't say that for sure. Cheers mate, Kanpai, Ganbatte, Viel Erfolg, Prost and whatever drinking salutes and motivations there are left, keep up the great work.

Spot on! And great video! Thanks for the insights!

Thank you Mac! Interesting to hear about the cask composition. I got to know the same after Googling a bit. One day working week! I guess they regret that now.😀

Well done again! This NAS is the Japanese whisky started me buying J-Whisky back in 2013!! I always have a bottle in the house!

Thank you for saving me $150 US. I found this at a local store heavily marked up. It doesn’t even seem worth the $100 retail.

I found when I tried it a few years back to have a finish. Something I am missing in the 10 and the 12. And find lacking in the 18 and am finding more in Suntory blends from the 80s. Love to see you do a head to head on this and the current 12.

Figured I’d post this same comment on this video as well as the exclusive one from earlier in the week - can’t hurt the KZfaq algorithm that’s for sure! Mac’s back, baby! Great video! As always, very insightful, interesting and impeccably well presented. I must admit, I don’t like the direction that Suntory have been taking in recent years. Likely chill filtered, colour added, and lacking the character and dimension of some of their older editions. I have always viewed Japanese products to be of high quality, be trustworthy and respectable - characteristics which I think Suntory have begun to lose sight of in recent years. They have such a large market share and brand image that they can afford to make products that are subpar with older similar variants (and still charge a massive premium - at least in overseas markets). I’m sure Japan’s whisky standards certainly do not help the situation out either, but these are not good signs for the future of Suntory products. What I do love is that despite living in Japan, you’re not afraid to offer a genuine, no BS opinion on their products and the brand itself. It really helps prospective consumers make a more informed decision on the products beforehand. Keep up the amazing work Mac!

Sounds like a nice enough dram for the cost, a pity it's so absurdly expensive here in New Zealand. I sure miss the days when I could get a bottle of the 12 from any liquor shop for $100 (it's now ~$400.) Knowing what I know now I'd have stocked up on it at the time.

Bought a bottle in Japan where I live in Kanagawa last week for 7,700 yen. About $53 in US dollars.

Thanks Mac, for again a highly informative and enjoyable review. Have not tasted this whisky, so no comments on that from my side. Slàinte mhath/ Kanpai

This is a €155 for 700 ml in Holland today. I paid $85 2 months ago in Panama duty free.

Great review, background, history and tasting notes. Yes, a lack of transparency is really frustrating, especially when this seems to be doing the brand more harm than good and doesn't seem to be good business practice. One would think that using Ex-Sherry casks and French Red Wine Barriques, there would be absolutely no need for any E150a colour, yet, there are some companies who are obsessed with shelf consistency from batch to batch and will dafka insist on adding colour to keep every batch looking exactly the same. This to me, makes sense with Blends like JWRL, but when it comes to Single Malt Whisky, it shows a lack of understanding of your customers. Someone who is looking for whisky from a single distillery will be looking for its uniqueness. Moreover the customer will understand that, being organic, no cask and seasoning will be the same and one must expect, no, celebrate those differences from batch to batch. [SUBSCRIBED]

Good job Mac ! Cheers )

Great review & insight as usual and totally agree with you about this...I didn't bought it but got me the nas Hakushu & beyond the surprise of first batches (rather interesting), next batches quickly became a bit less subtle for me, and nowhere near even their previous 10 yo that I still have home...For me even the value of "the flipper's delight" Yamazaki nas "Sherry Cask" is debatable for some vintages...When you have tried "the real deal" from them like me & you, you are rightfully so legitimate to ask them "Is this the best you can do to represent the distillery as a unique item ?" My answer is No ! Now is that Yamazaki nas a bad whisky in my opinion ? No, but it doesn't represent well the distillery compared to the 12 yo, and is clearly targeted towards a bigger audience as a mellow crowd pleaser & mizuwari base (or supposed to be) whisky, which is understandable, but not for us; Kanpaï !

appreciate the rum bangers on your shelf

Got a bottle of this last winter. Not available in the US so it was part of a UK online order. $108 usd total price with shipping. Also got the Hakushu distillers reserve as well for the same price. Glad I tried them but for me the Yoichi and Miyagiko are much better and cost less. Cheers

Great Review! I am also very disappointed with the NAS Yamazaki.....light and day compared to the classic 12 year old. In my market I remember buying them back in 2015 for $30 now it is close to $100. There are far better quality whisky at this price range sadly and Suntory sticks to their traditional ways which is usually shot down buy whisky nerds!

As usual, you've done a bang up job with this review. I also have an issue with a whisky distiller suddenly becoming iffy with what they're putting in the bottle, when previously they couldn't wait to tell you everything. I'm guessing they're giving themselves 'wiggle room' to use different methods, aa long as it keeps to a certain taste and appearance. But how does that make them any different from your average distiller?

A very fair assessment. Before the NV was born I gather that the 12 was often used in high balls which seems a waste to me. Would it be worth doing a taste test of the NV in a high ball/mizuwari and on the rocks as these may be how most Japanese people drink it. Personally, if I am drinking a NV Japanese whisky straight, I'll go for Nikka's Yoichi as it seems to have more going on IMHO.

Hi if you had to choose would you buy the Hibiki or Yamazaki distillers reserve?

Does anyone know if there's any other whiskeys that have a similar taste to the Yamazaki 18?

Almost like the explosion of demand for Japanese whisky around the world (and the huge markup in international prices) has lead to a drop in quality to rush out product to satisfy demand. Who would have thought? #capitalism

Mac ... Looooong time no C ... Very Fair Objective review ... When you boil the fat off the pig ..its down to personal taste and budget .. I will not be buying .... cheers

A decent dram, and nothing more these days. Let's see what happens to Japanese whisky in 8 to 9 years. The prices being asked for very young whisky by the new distillers is interesting at first, but quickly becomes boring and a waste of money.