Although this news has been released by Suntory for a short time already, some readers may not have picked up on it. Good news, if you live in Japan and have some retail contacts you may be able to pick up a bottle or two. Bad news, if you live outside of Japan and don’t have any retail contacts there you are likely to miss out until they reach auctions and you have to pay at least double the price as this apparently is a Japan only release. Heavily Peated NAS Hakushu have been available for retail sale in the UK/Europe.
Interesting that this is another No Age Statement bottling from Suntory which indicates one of 2 things. That previous news of low stock numbers at Yamazaki and/or Hakushu are true(due to the recent popularity of Japanese whisky), hence having to blend younger and older stock, or, it’s a way to keep the price down as single cask offerings like the Yamazaki Heavily Peated 1993 can cost a ‘motsa’ these days. Personally, I’m going with the former. Reading Suntory’s own website they seem to be looking at ramping up production, more to follow on that.
So bottom line, there will be 3500 bottles of this and official release day is 23 April. Contact your Japanese whisky supplier if you have one.
Final word, Yamazaki Heavily Peated whisky tends to be just that, with Hakushu Heavily Peated whisky tending to be more mid range than heavy so this one should be interesting.