Yamazaki The Kogei Collection Peated Malt Spanish Oak Single Malt Japanese Whisky

Brand: Yamazaki (House of Suntory)

Release Name: Peated Malt Spanish Oak — The Kogei Collection, Japanese Kimono Edition

Whisky Style / Type: Single Malt Japanese Whisky, Peated

Composition: Peated Malt Whisky

Age: No Age Statement

Volume: 700ml Bottle

Alc / Vol (%): 43.0%

Country: Japan

Region: Yamazaki Distillery, Osaka Prefecture

Cask Type: Spanish Oak (Ex-Oloroso Sherry Casks)

Limited Edition: Yes (Debut Release, Travel Retail Exclusive)

Award Winner: Not independently confirmed for this specific release — Yamazaki as a brand includes past World Whisky of the Year winners (e.g. Sherry Cask 2013)

Yamazaki is Japan’s first commercial whisky distillery. It was founded in 1923 by Shinjiro Torii. The distillery sits near Kyoto, where soft water and seasonal climate shifts enhance maturation. This location gives the whisky a unique edge.

Yamazaki also uses multiple yeast strains and a variety of casks. These include American oak, sherry butts, and rare Japanese Mizunara oak. As a result, the distillery creates layered, elegant single malts. Its whiskies continue to earn global recognition and define Japanese single malt excellence.

Explore The House of Suntory

This whisky revives a technique Suntory largely set aside decades ago: pairing peated malt with Spanish oak, a combination the House's early blenders found too heavy for the Japanese palate and eventually replaced with American oak. Chief Blender Shinji Fukuyo has now returned to that original approach with over a century of refinement behind it, and the result is a single malt with genuine historical significance rather than just a new flavour experiment. Yamazaki's warm distillery climate brings out tropical fruit character that plays against the smokiness in a way the sister Hakushu release doesn't replicate, making this a genuinely distinct expression within the Kogei Collection. The packaging itself is a collaboration with Chiso, a Kyoto kimono house operating since 1555, using traditional Bokashi-zome gradation dyeing — making this as much a piece of Japanese craft as a whisky. As a debut, travel-retail exclusive release, it's a strong pick for collectors seeking something genuinely limited from Japan's founding distillery.