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Yamazaki 12

Single malt fan for years, I always saw myself as a traditionalist and scoffed at the thought of Japanese scotch. Then I saw the attention the Yamazaki sherry cask was getting so I tried to track down a bottle, any bottle. I couldn't find one anywhere in the city or even on a regional level with my liquor distributor friends. Chalking it up as a lost cause, I added it to my Christmas list as a place filler more than anything. I was very surprised when I received it from my father. He had some trouble as well, but eventually bought a bottle off the internet from some place in New Jersey. He said he ordered the 18 year but they called him the next day saying they sold out so I received the 12 year instead.

Anyway, it's a very good scotch. Normally I keep a bottle of Glenlivet 12 as my day to day and then another "higher level" bottle for special occasions, cigar on the deck sort of stuff. The Yamazaki 12 fits the bill quite well.
 
I like Yamazaki 12. I find it compares more to an Irish whisky than Scotch, but either way it's damn fine - especially for the price. The 12 year old is pretty easy to find around DFW. I don't know that I've ever seen the 18, but I haven't really been looking.
 
I like the Yamazaki also. To me it seems that most Scotch whiskies seem to highlight something, either peat, salt water, etc. where the Yamazaki is more of a nicely balanced middle-of-the-road kind of malt whisky.
 
I like the Yamazaki also. To me it seems that most Scotch whiskies seem to highlight something, either peat, salt water, etc. where the Yamazaki is more of a nicely balanced middle-of-the-road kind of malt whisky.

Perfect description! Great, great stuff...
 
I agree that the Yamazakis are good single-malt whiskies (as an aside, they're single-malts, not scotches - semantics, I know) - the 12 is light and crisp, a smooth drinker with a sweet finish. The 18 is more complex and still sweet and easy drinking. I haven't had either in probably 5 years or more, since the prices of ALL single malts started climbing to somewhat insane price levels (in my opinion.)

I've taken the price hikes as an opportunity to explore the world of bourbons and other American whiskies, especially since I'm living in KY right now. That said, though, a nice Yamazaki DOES sound pretty good right about now...
 
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