Suntory would like you to buy a three-million yen bottle of Japanese whisky

Release of limited-edition Yamazaki 55-year has us wishing we’d started saving up for it about half a century ago.

It seems like every couple of months, we hear about another outstanding Japanese whisky disappearing. First it was Suntory’s Hakushu 12-year and Hibiki 17-years, then Kirin’s Fuji-sanroku Tarajuku Genshu 50, and just last month Nikka told us to brace for the departure of its Taketsuru Pure Malt 17, 21, and 25-years.

The reason why is always the same: none of Japan’s whisky makers expected their products to become this popular, and with age-specific batches of the spirit taking exactly that many years to make, it’s not like they can just run a second shift at the distillery and pump out more  to ship to stores. But Japanese whisky lovers now have something to celebrate, as Suntory has just announced that it’s releasing a new-to-market age-specific Yamazaki whisky, the Yamazaki 55-year.

Just like the name says, this single-malt is 55 years in the making. Produced at Suntory’s Yamazaki distillery, the oldest whisky distillery in Japan, the Yamazaki 55 is masterfully blended from whiskies aged in Japanese mizunara and white oak barrels. With the quality painstakingly checked over the past five and a half decades, Suntory promises an “exquisitely balanced flavor and aroma.”

OK, so with Japanese aged whisky getting harder and harder to find, you’ll want to grab a couple bottles of this stuff, right? Well, there are two problems with that plan. First, Suntory is only selling 100 bottles of Yamazaki 55, with winners being chosen randomly from applications taken between February 5 and 14. The other issue: because of their scarcity, each bottle is priced at three million yen (US$27,300).

▼ Pricing your whisky as much as a car is an innovative way to prevent drinking and driving.

If you’re feeling lucky and also flush with cash (like, say, Nintendo after its 50-million dollar lawsuit victory), purchase applications can be made online here. Shipping is scheduled for June 30, and should you win, we’d like to be the first of many, many people who will ask you for a glass.

Source: Suntory via IT Media
Top image: Suntory
Insert images: Suntory (1, 2)
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