Yamazaki 12 Years was the flagship whisky from the Yamazaki distillery in Japan. At Suntory they use a unique aging process that involves Spanish, American (ex-Bourbon) and Japanese (Mizunara) oak. This gives the whisky a unique character all its own and when it was available at a not-absurd price I enjoyed picking up a bottle and sipping on it now and then. At its current crazy-pants prices I can’t even fathom grabbing one.
Yamazaki 12 Years Info
Region: Osaka, Japan
Distiller: Suntory
Mashbill: 100% Malted Barley
Cask: American, Spanish and Japanese Oak
Age: 12 years
ABV: 43%
Price: $120+ | Specialty and auctions mostly
Yamazaki 12 Years Review
EYE
Gold
NOSE
Rich fruit, buttery graham, malty sweetness, hay and a bit of honeydew build an aroma that is quite pleasing to the senses.
PALATE
Fruit, buttery graham, malt, citrus peels, hay, spice and a candy sweetness towards the end that reminds me of those orange Circus Peanuts. Not a bad flavor all-in-all, a simple sipper for sure.
FINISH
Medium malty fade accompanied by notes of nuts, fruit and a bit of char.
BALANCE, BODY & FEEL
Decent balance, light body and a soft velvety feel
OVERALL
Yamazaki 12 years is a good whisky that I’m not excited about, which causes a bit of internal conflict for me. On a pure merit scale the interesting aroma and palate I think deserve an B+ range rating, but on an excitement scale I feel like it’s more of a B range for me and sticking it in the B range feels like a copout. I wish there was a better solution, but in the end I decided to satisfy the less emotion driven part of myself and go with that fact that it is a good daily drinker that I wouldn’t be upset about having in my glass.
SCORE: 87/100 (B+)
Yamazaki 12 Review
Summary
Yamazaki 12 years is a decent whisky. It’s price is obscenely high these days, but worth a taste if you can find some at a not-obscene price.
Overall
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Nose - 87
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Palate - 87
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Finish - 87
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Balance, Body & Feel - 87
After reading this review in 2021 I checked to see what I paid for a replacement bottle I purchased 1 1/2 years ago. It was $110 and was overpriced then. Thankfully I still have plenty left. Japanese whisky prices have gotten out of hand. The Japanese have priced themselves out of the market as most people believe.
100%
Another Great Review!
Thank you, Josh, for your nuanced and honest reviews! This review is a perfect example of how you consistently disregard the hype and talk meaningfully about the whisky. You have emerged at the top of my list of go-to whisky reviews.
Cheers Abraham, and thank you :D
During the break between lunch and dinner service at the restaurant where I work in the Bay Area something incredible happened. It was so unbelievable, I almost took out my cell phone to lookup the phone number for the Vatican to call in and report a miracle (and mind you, I’m not even Catholic!).
After munching a super burrito I meandered into the local Bev Mo to browse. Imagine my astonishment as I scanned the aisles and showcases when, lo and behold, my eyes fell upon a sole bottle of Yamazaki 12 Year. Price – $99.99. I’ve passed up a couple of different opportunities to score a bottle of this elusive spirit for the same price within the past year. Now the cheapest price I can get one at is $159. I’ve also had a couple of pours of it at a local watering hole for $14 each and enjoyed it immensely (dunno how long the bottle had been open but it was drinking very nicely). I even liked it more than the Hakushu 12 and Hibiki 17 I have open currently, so I picked it up. A sales associate said that they have been randomly receiving 3 bottle allocations recently. Go figure?!
Wow, congrats!
Hey Josh, very interesting reading this one alongside your 2013 review — when a bottle could be had for $50! Just posted our own write-up on it, and I very much agree it makes a fine daily drinker, or would if the price were right. I like this, but there are many things I’d rather lay out $100+ for…
Totally agreed and nice review too BTW!
We can get it here in Tokyo for around $80 a bottle ($50 last year), but it seems it’s more popular overseas. People go crazy over it and the 18-year-old expression as well, but they really are ‘meh’ whiskies when you consider the price. After dinner with a piece of chocolate, it’s a fine dram. Sitting in a bar and drinking this stuff, though?… boring. Most of my customers at my pub (Japanese, of course) prefer Scotch malts, and when they do go for a Japanese malt, it’s a Chichibu or Mars; they find the Suntory and Nikka whiskies to be uninteresting. For a whisky that was created to suit the Japanese palate, it sure seems to do better with non-Japanese, and they seem to like it as a status symbol, or because it’s easy-drinking, neither reason ever given by someone who actually likes whisky in general.
Cheers Will, thanks for the added insight!
Excellent review Josh. A very decent dram but hard to get excited about is spot on. Personally I prefer Suntory’s Hakushu Single Malt, which is lighter and crisper all round. Interestingly, the 12 year olds of both these flagship malts are damn hard to find even here in Japan since they switched to the NAS bottlings a couple of years back. And to add insult to injury, they’re about the same price here as you’re quoting for over your way. More than double the price of an Ardbeg 10 or Springbank 10, triple the the price of a Glenmorangie or Talisker. Not sure what’s up with that.
Wow, I had no idea on the pricing over there was just as bad. Good thing there’s a lot of good whisky to drink at a far cheaper price.
Cheers!