Suntory Hibiki 12 YO

Photo provided by The Whisky Exchange

The long-awaited new 12 year-old blend from Hibiki — and it’s a stun­ner. Lovely malt from Hakushu and Yamazaki, plus some aged grain from Chita — and part matured in casks for­merly home to Japan­ese plum liqueur! One of the best new releases of the year, with­out a doubt.

Colour: Auru­lent (Gold-Coloured) or Melichrous (Honey-like). Maybe Luteous (Golden-yellow).

Nose: Very fruity, with ripe oranges, apple pie, mar­malade and plums (would I have still got those plums if I didn’t know about the plum liqueur mat­u­ra­tion? I’d like to hope so). Fresh hon­ey­suckle and nougat aro­mas, sug­ared almonds, sponge cake, icing sugar. Expres­sive and exciting.

Palate: Smooth as a snooker ball, with deli­cious fresh grain, oak tan­nins and del­i­cately sher­ried malt. Some clove, pep­per and mixed peel as the sherry comes for­ward. The cit­rus is here as well, if slightly more tart like lemon or grapefruit.

Fin­ish: Spices, apple peel and the last rem­nants of the finely-tuned grain. Noth­ing dom­i­nates, every­thing in place — the inte­gra­tion and bal­ance are quite remark­able. The spices seem to build in inten­sity at the finale.

Com­ments: Slips down eas­ier than a greased eel in an oil­slick. This is tremen­dous. A hugely impres­sive feat of blend­ing that proves, if there were any remain­ing doubt, that Japan­ese whisky can equal or beat any­thing pro­duced in Scot­land at this moment in time. Bravo.

- The Whisky Exchange Blog