Yamazaki is where Japanese whisky begins. In 1923, Shinjiro Torii — a former pharmaceutical wholesaler turned wine merchant, and founder of what became Suntory — built Japan's first commercial malt whisky distillery in the Vale of Yamazaki on the outskirts of Kyoto, a move most people around him considered mad. He hired Masataka Taketsuru, who had spent years in Scotland studying distilling at Mortlach and Lagavulin, to help build it. Their partnership founded the entire Japanese whisky industry before their differing visions split them, with Taketsuru later leaving to start Nikka. The site was chosen for its water: Yamazaki sits where the Katsura, Uji, and Kizu rivers converge, producing a misty climate and some of Japan's softest, purest water — the same qualities that led tea master Sen no Rikyū to build his teahouse there centuries earlier. Torii's aim was never to copy Scotch but to make whisky suited to Japanese cuisine and palates: softer, more delicate, more layered. The first release, White Label, landed in 1929; the single malt line launched in 1984 under Keizo Saji. What defines the house today is Mizunara, the rare Japanese oak that gives sandalwood, incense, and coconut notes found nowhere else. The range spans Distiller's Reserve, 12, 18, and 25 Year, along with limited cask releases — including the Sherry Cask 2013 that Jim Murray named World Whisky of the Year.

Browse our full Yamazaki collection with fast nationwide shipping delivered straight to your door.