Suntory Royal Whisky

Suntory Royal

The success of Japanese whiskey and more specifically of Suntory malt whiskeys has been growing dramatically over the past decade, but before being known for its malts, Suntory was traditionally famous for its blendeds. First introduced in 1960 to celebrate the company's 60th anniversary, Suntory Royal Blended 70cl 43% vol. It is made with Yamazaki, Hakushu and Chita whiskeys and is a balanced, light and easy to drink whiskey with good complexity.

The Suntory Yamazaki distillery

Suntory Yamazaki was Japan's first whiskey distillery and today, it is still the best-selling single malt on the island, it is exported to more than 25 countries and in 2002 it was the ninth best-selling single malt in the world. < / p>

The whiskey of the Yamazaki distillery is handcrafted, following the traditional method, in the oldest distillery in Japan. Founded in 1923 by Shinjiro Torii, the distillery is located in Osaka Prefecture, at the foot of Mount Tennozan, in a bamboo-plated valley, where the Katsura, Uji and Kizu rivers converge, providing the purest and distillery waters soft from Japan, the same used for hundreds of years for traditional Japanese tea ceremonies.

The Suntory Hakushu Distillery

The Hakushu distillery is the second Japanese whiskey distillery of the Suntory group, surrounded by an immense green forest, located at the foot of Mount Kaikomagatake in the perfect Yamanashi. Like Yamazaki, the location of the distillery was chosen because of the abundance of high quality mineral water, from which the Suntory group bottles thanks to its splendid nature.

Founded in 1973, the distillery uses traditional methods of production, such as heating the stills with direct coal fire and a slow distillation process. In 1981 the distillery grows with the construction of the Hakushu East block, the old distillery, West Hakushu, is re-destined for other purposes.

Hakushu has a capacity of 3,000,000 liters per year and produces a wide variety of whiskeys thanks to its wide range of stills of different sizes and shapes heated by coal. Some of the whiskeys made by the distillery are filtered by bamboo charcoal and all use waters from the Kai-Komogatake underground river.

The typical aromas of the distillery go through light smoke, white fruit such as pear and apple and tropical fruits.

The Suntory Chita Distillery

The Chita distillery is located on the misty and quiet coasts of the Chita peninsula, in Aichi prefecture. Founded in 1972 by Keizo Saji-Suntory, Suntory's second master distiller, he decided to found The Sun Grain Chita Distillery, a grain whiskey distillery, following Shinjiro Torii's vision, making whiskeys with the richness of Japanese nature and crafts.

Nicknamed "The silent distillery" brews grain whiskey, made with corn, wheat or rye. The malt whiskey is prepared with stills, while the grain whiskey is distilled in a continuous column, which provides a greater volume of alcohol but less flavor. Because of their exceptional softness and balance, Chita grain whiskeys are used to increase the harmony of the renowned Suntory blendeds, the Hibiki.

Suntory Royal tasting notes and interesting information

Country: Japan.

Region: Osaka (Taketsuru Valley).

Style: Blended.

Aging: Mix of whiskeys from different distilleries with a high content of malt, disturbed malt and grain distillate. Aged in American white oak barrels, sherry and Mizunara (Japanese oak).

Nose: Light, fruity and floral with hints of vanilla, caramel and pear.

Mouth: Graceful, notes of pear and white grape, grapefruit, oak and spices.

Finish: Medium persistence, with sweet and sour notes of grapefruit, oak and spices.

Recommendation La Llar del Vi:

A blended introduced in 1960 from the Suntory group that will delight lovers of whiskey distillery, both the Yamazaki and Hakushu malts and their most emblematic blended (at least in the west) Hibiki.