Please note that this article is aimed for readers over the age of 18 or 21, depending on your country jurisdiction for a legal age to consume alcoholic beverages.
Nowadays, I have been developing an appreciation to Japanese whiskies. As you know that Japanese do not usually invent something new, but they do know how to perfect things.
One example is whisky. Whisky wasn’t originally invented by the Japanese, but no one knows who invented a whiskey. The most popular source of whisky being invented dated back in 2000 BC by the Babylonians. Go and check the Wikipedia for more info about whisky.
It was all started when I was travelling to Japan on April 2016. I was really surprised that almost all convenience stores such as 7Eleven, and Family Mart sold alcoholic beverages. It is something that I’ve never seen it in all convenience stores in Australia.
I was not only surprised with the fact that they sell alcoholic beverages, the price of alcoholic beverages is so much cheaper that the cheapest liquorstore in Australia, like the Dan Murphy’s for example.
I bought a 1000 yen of 700ml whisky from 7Eleven that looked good enough for a souvenir. I didn’t even think to buy for myself and had a sip to see how good it was.
On the last day in Japan, at Kansai International Airport in Osaka, I had so much loose change that I wanted to get rid of – so I looked around a few duty free shops. My eyes were caught on this good looking whisky called Single Malt Miyagikyo. It was priced at 3700 yen. I reckoned the price was fair. Up to this point, I had not tried a Japanese whisky … not even a single drop of it.
A couple months later, a friend of mine had recently returned from Japan as well – he was eager in telling the story about Japan and how great the whiskeys were. He brought some from Japan, and one of them had been opened. It was Nikka Taketsuru Pure Malt. He offered me a glass with some ice, and OMG … it was so smooth and delicious with a bit of smoky flavour. It did not burn my throat at all.
I did regret for not bringing a few extra bottles with me from Japan. I only brought 2 of 700ml bottles. I should have brought 4 more bottles with me from Japan, considering Australian Custom allows up to 2.25 litre of liquor to bring into Australia. I travelled to Japan with my wife, by the way.
Since then I have been obsessed with Japanese whiskeys. Yamazaki, Hibiki, Hakushu, Iwai, Miyagikyo, and Taketsuru are in my top list of favorite Japanese whiskeys. Their prices are not cheap in Australia, and they are hard to find too.
I have always been wanting to return to Japan someday, only to hunt for more Japanese whiskeys that are hard to find in Australia.
Many people have their own obsession about Japan. Some loves their anime or manga characters. Some loves their food. Some loves their traditional cultures. But for me, I love their whiskeys.
Japanese whiskeys have been well regarded as best whiskeys in the world after continuosly winning best award, such as 12 Yr Old Single Malt Yamazaki and 12 Yr Old Hibiki.
So what is your obsession?
