I’m utterly obsessed by glasses, and how their shape affects the taste of the drink. It amazes and upsets me that bartenders will serve shots that cost more than ¥10,000 and pour them into a glass that will bury the character. And I know that very few people believe it matters, so a few years ago I wrote a piece for the Japan Times trying to convince people. And for the latest edition of Whisky Magazine Japan, I investigated whisky glass shapes. Here’s the English translation. Breath in, it’s gonna get obsessive.
(Photos by Julen Estebal-Pretel)
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Published on May 2, 2012 1:51 am.
Filed under: whisky
Earlier this year I took Anthony Wills of Islay’s new(ish) craft distillery Kilchoman to Chichibu to chat with Ichiro Akuto and poke his nose around Japan’s newest distillery.
I wanted to eavesdrop on a conversation between Wills and Akuto because, for me, these men have built the two most exciting new distilleries and are producing exceptional young drinks (Kilchoman had yet to release a 4-year-old, and Chichibu was still offering new make).
The article is out, in Japanese, in the latest issue of Whisky Magazine Japan, but here’s an English translation.
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Published on September 6, 2011 8:01 am.
Filed under: whisky
I’ve drunk some pricey drinks in my time. I tried a shot of Sunny Brook Rye from 1892 for ¥20,000, and last week I drank my first ¥7,000 cocktail (a highball made with Hakushu 25 Years Old, which is sure to raise the ire of any self-respecting whisky fan, but a shot of that stuff was ¥16,000, so the highball was the cheapest way to taste it. No, it wasn’t worth it.)
But I set what I expect to be a long-serving record tonight. Not in price terms – I believe I paid a little under ¥9,000 – but in yen per millilitre.
Check the picture. That’s how much I got. The price for a regular shot of Yamazaki 50 Years Old is ¥90,000 at Wodka Tonic in Nishi Azabu. Details »
Published on May 2, 2010 5:50 pm.
Filed under: whisky Tags: Yamazaki
There’s only one bar in Tokyo that’s been unaffected by the recent highball fever: Rockfish in Ginza. Before the Kaku highball campaign was even a twinkle in Suntory’s marketing schedule, Kazunari Maguchi of Rockfish was turning out an almost uninterrupted stream of whisky & sodas, and while every other bartender in the country is reporting a huge spike in highball orders, Maguchi says it’s just business as usual at Rockfish, where highballs have always accounted for over 90% of the orders.
There is something uniquely refreshing about a Rockfish highball. Maguchi makes his without ice, so you can take a proper thrist-quenching swig of the drink. He also makes a drink that tastes of whisky, which is a nice departure from the ice-filled Kaku highballs that most places are turning out, which have just a twinkle of whisky taste.
Last Saturday Maguchi taught me his highball technique for a Whisky Magazine Japan feature. Here’s how it goes:
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Published on April 13, 2010 3:57 pm.
Filed under: whisky Tags: Ginza, Japan, Tokyo, whisky
