If you're whiskey fan (or even if you're not),you might have heard of
Yamazaki whiskey which has been recognized as one of the best whiskeys
in the world.
Luckily I got a chance to visit the
Yamazaki distillery thanks to my friend who made a reservation for the
guided tour at very last minutes, actually it was full until a day
before but he kept an eye on online booking and he took a spot that
someone just canceled! Lucky me!
We took JR line to
Yamazaki station which only took 15 mins from Kyoto station, and the
town itself looked lovely being surrounded mountains. And here we are,
Yamazaki!
I think you can get better/more information about Japanese whiskey and what makes it special
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/food-and-drink/whisky/what-makes-japanese-whisky-so-unique/
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| my sister, being excited |
Guided tour was pretty impressive, my friends who are non Japanese
native speakers got offered English audio guide that you sometimes see
at museums, and tour guide will tell you which number to press and you
can follow along with the tour, so language is not a problem!
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| distillation hall with three different shapes of pot stills for different characters |
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| aging room - that cask is as old as her! |
At the end of the tour, we got to the tasting room! (Look how happy my sister is!)
We got to try 3 different whiskeys - 2 from right are the same, tried one straight and another with soda (highball)
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| of course Instagram #Yamazaki |
Kanpai with our perfect highballs! OMG, what kind of highballs have I
had? The one made with proper instruction was so different from what
I've ever tasted, smooth yet refreshing!
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| Thank you Lane and his crew for making reservation for us! |
And after fun tasting time, we walked around the museum part and studied
their history and other top whiskeys - Scottish, American and Canadian.
After we left the distillery, we decided to go for a walk in the bush
to see the last autumn colors - the air was crisp enough to cool us
down a bit after extra tasting, red is vivid, the area was so quiet that
made me ask myself "where am I?" especially compared to hustle and
bustle in Kyoto for its busy season!
I'd definitely recommend everyone to visit there for a small trip from Kyoto/Osaka.
You can check their tour vacancy through this link:
http://www.suntory.com/factory/yamazaki/inspection/distillery_tour/
Happy winter! :)
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