Everything You Need to Know About Japanese Whisky
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- Опубликовано: 30 июн 2024
- Created and perfected by two Japanese Scotch enthusiasts using a secret local ingredient, and popularized by WW2 soldiers and two different Murrays, here’s everything you need to know about Japanese Whiskey. Let’s take a look at how a serious case of economic and technological FOMO forced once isolated Japan to perfect the time-tested Scotch with the local know-how and eventually dethroned Sake as the king of Japanese Spirits.
For more great content on Japanese Spirits, visit: flaviar.com/spiritsofjapan
00:00 - Intro
00:39 - How history affected Japanese History
02:14 - What makes Japanese Whisky so special
03:39 - When did Japanese Whisky hit mainstream
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Konichiwa! What’s the first drink that comes to mind when someone mentions Japan, the fantastic and colorful world of weirdness? It’s Sake, right? Well, it’s time for a quick re-education. A new giant is emerging in Nippon and this one is not a sea monster - it’s the increasingly beloved Japanese Whisky, which is obviously big in Japan - sorry, we had to - and it is taking over the world.
So, how did it all happen? It’s an exciting tale of seafarers, Scotland, science, wood, Bill Murray, and Matthew Perry [show Chandler]. We’ll get to that.
In the 17th century, Japan isolated itself from everyone. The government wanted to limit the cultural and religious influence of the European traders, and they remained hermits for two centuries, until Matthew Perry came to Tokyo in 1853. Not Chandler, but an angry American sailor, who just wanted to trade. Perry the Mariner, ten ships and thousands of men held Tokyo at gunship point and demanded Japan to start doing business again.
The Japanese saw how far behind they were technologically compared to the Western world and got a serious case of FOMO. One of the coolest new things they saw was the amber Spirit the Yanks called “Whisky”. The locals tried to recreate it - unsuccessfully, so in 1918, they sent a young chemist from an ancient Sake-making family to Scotland.
His name was Masataka Taketsuru, and he became a total Scotch geek. When he came back to Japan, he started making Whisky with his new pal, Shinjiro Torri, the pharmaceutical tycoon. Now, Taketsuru wanted to build a distillery in Hokkaido because its landscape is similar to Scotland, but Torri decided to settle down in Yamazaki. When the duo eventually split up, Taketsuru moved to Hokkaido, establishing Nikka in 1934, while Torri renamed his business to Suntory. Today, Nikka and Suntory are still Whisky powerhouses and huge rivals.
[Smartass Corner 1] By the way: Suntory is just Torri-San backwards. Clever, huh?
Alright, but what makes Japanese Whisky so special? Granted, it's heavily influenced by Scotch, but it's way more aromatic and lighter. And there's a secret weapon behind that. Meet the Mizunara oak.
Mizunara is a premium kind of wood, usually used for fancy furniture, and its casks impart lavish flavors of sandalwood and coconut.
[Smartass Corner 2] Cool Fact: the Mizunara tree needs to be at least 200 years old before it can be turned into a barrel!
However, the uniqueness of Mizunara proved to be both a blessing and a curse. When Whisky is matured for only a couple of years in it, it becomes intense and way too woody. That’s why they considered Mizunara inferior to the European oak. But! When the Japanese tasted Whisky that spent two decades in Mizunara casks, they realized they hit the jackpot.
It became a domestic hit during World War II and when Japan was occupied by the Americans and the British, they fell love with the local Whisky, too. When the Allied Forces left, Whisky gave way to Western-style drinks such as beer, wine, vodka and gin - but not for long. When Japan experienced its economic miracle in the 80s, Whisky became the king again, the average Japanese drinking three liters per year. The demand was astronomical and in a few decades, it would get even wilder, when the two Murrays happened. 
Развлечения
“And he just wanted to trade”.
That’s one way to put it...
LOL
Americans just love lying to themselves how great and humanitarian and democratic they are, while their road to world dominance was paved by mountains of corpses.
Truly informative thank you 🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏
@Flaviar, could you clarify this comment?
"However, the uniqueness of Mizunara proved to be both a blessing and a curse. When Whisky is matured for only a couple of years in it, it becomes intense and way too woody. That’s why they considered Mizunara inferior to the European oak. But! When the Japanese tasted Whisky that spent two decades in Mizunara casks, they realized they hit the jackpot."
1) Who's the "they" that considered it inferior?
2) Are you saying it's too oaky at 2 years, but less oaky at 20 years? How does that work?
3) The majority of Japanese whisky is NAS or younger than 20 years right? How's that reconcile with Mizunara's weird aging curve, if that's what's being said?
Thanks for helping me learn more about this!
@Vasu: thanks for these really great questions! Let's address them one by one --
1) The "they" in this story is referring to the Japanese Whisky producers that experimented with Mizunara oak and didn't wait long enough to see how the wood affects the spirit after a longer period of time. The European oak gave them the results they expected, so they decided Mizunara wasn’t suitable for maturing Whisky.
2) That's exactly right. Whisky has to mature in Mizunara oak for at least 15 - 20 years for the "right" flavors to be imparted. When it's matured for just a couple of years, harsh woodiness prevails and hides subtler flavors. After a decade or two, the "oakiness" mellows out.
3) The majority of Japanese Whisky isn't matured in Mizunara oak. Since Mizunara is one of the rarest and most expensive types of oak in the world (it takes the tree 200 years before it can be cut and used for casks), only certain distillers can afford using it. Nowadays, one Mizunara cask can set you back over $6,000.
Hope this clarifies some of the points made in the video - let me know if you have any other questions!
Excellent, thanks!
@@Flaviar Interesting! Also I've read that a cask can just have Mizunara ends only. Maybe that would be for younger whiskies so as to not impart so much of that Mizunara intensity. Correct me if I'm wrong please.
Interesting video!🥃
Beer actually existed in Japan long before that. Sapporo was founded in 1876.
See the German Army….
This is awesome
Thank you for the kinds words! Check out the rest of our channel if you would like to see more similar content.
2:02 that's not where Osaka is, That's Nagoya
Nope, that's far from Nagoya. That's a town under Mt. Fuji called .. Fuji.
the last japanese words ‘ganbei’ is from chinese which means drink out all the spirits in the glass or cheers
The Chinese always claim their origin.
@@j-type2112 呵呵
Educational for sure
I am really interested in trying this type of whiskey!
@@Shawn-jz6to Here's the perfect beginner's guide to Japanese Whisky: flaviar.com/sample-tastingset/whisky-whiskey/prime-whiskys-big-in-japan
@@Shawn-jz6to - if it's japanese or scottish it's spelled without an e - "whisky"
3 litres per year made the demand astronomical? sounds like a weekend to me
Considering that there are 125 360 000 people in Japan, it's 376 080 000 liters per year only in Japan.
Sound like an alcoholic sakib
Many still contain some imported scotch.
Such an admirable culture
Yeah right. Power harassment, lolicon, over working it’s people to death
@@user-ht4kp7py2c - And don't forget revisionist history of WW2 in school history curriculum.
@@user-ht4kp7py2clol says the guy with no culture himself
@@user-ht4kp7py2c While the America started with genocide, slavery, religious bigotry, and then bloody global conquest that never ended.
Amazing!
Wow
Left you speechless? Great, feel free to check out our other videos!
We think if you enjoyed this one that you might like learning everything these is about Shochu. You can find it here:
ruclips.net/video/etVCWfqApoM/видео.html
I would like to order HIBIKI WHISKEY.
RIP Matthew Perry
Japan - the only country in the world apart from scotland which is allowed to spell whisky without an e
Canadian Whisky?
1:07 it's not Tokyo, it's Fuji.
2:00 still Fuji, not even close to Osaka.
The Japanese do everything well. Bravo.
Sorry it just isn't
‘Japanese’ whiskey isn’t even number one IN Japan, let alone anywhere else
whiskey is better than whisky
We all forgive muricans bastardising the english language.
im so sorry but this was mostly cringy, theres a lot of production value, and the animations are fun, but they come off ... of poor taste. Keep it fun, but less like you're making a joke out of it you know?
Also ウイスキー was spelled wrong the first time. It got spelled ウイスエー
Video is super racist. Imagine cartoons of fried chicken and watermelon on a video about black history
We’re very sorry if this came out inappropriate. Our goal was to create an educational video about this interesting topic
@@Flaviardon’t apologize to them, just keep educating. It’s not like other countries use stereotypes on Americans….
Bourbon is 100x better
Have you had the opportunity to try any Japanese Whisky? We're curious what you didn't like about it.
Please give something like Shinju a taste. I’m not a bourbon or a scotch, or even a wine person for that matter. But ever since I stated working at a liquor outlet and got to try a few new things, there’s bunch I never would have thought I liked, that I now like.
Japanese whisky is incredibly smooth. Almost like an extra anejo, it leaves you with a chest “hug” more than it does a chest “burn”.
I get it, it’s Japanese. But but it’s distilled from rice, making it incredibly smooth and satisfying. I’m sure the gins and vodkas are the same exact way.