On my visit to the Hakushu distillery in Japan we watched a guy recharring ex-bourbon barrels. Recharring is when you refresh a barrel by burning the inside of a previously-used cask to give it additional life for aging spirits. In this first video, we watch the recharring process while Mike... Read more →
Yesterday I wrote about visiting the Hakushu distillery in Japan. Today I'll write about Suntory's other single-malt distillery, Yamazaki. It is located between Kyoto and Osaka, at the convergence of several rivers. I believe they said the distillery welcomes 100,000 visitors each year. (Mount Fuji as seen from the train... Read more →
I visited the Hakushu distillery owned by Suntory, located in the Yamanashi prefecture, about two hours by train from Tokyo in Japan. There is a new Hakushu single malt whisky on the US market. As I mentioned in a previous post, Hakushu was built in 1973 and is located at... Read more →
In Japan on October 31 I attended the 2011 Suntory "The Cocktail Award," the finals of Japan's largest cocktail competition with about 1000 entrants. As you can see in the photo below, the awards were a big production. At this competition, the 18 finalists competed in three groups. Each of... Read more →
This November I visited Japan courtesy of Suntory whisky. It was an amazing trip and I've got a lot to share over a few blog posts. The History of Whisky in Japan After US Navy Commodore Matthew Perry helped open Japan to the West in the 1850s, there was a... Read more →
I received a copy of Drinking Japan: A Guide to Japan's Best Drinks and Drinking Establishments by Chris Bunting a few months before I visited the country. The book is useful even if you have no intentions to do so. The majority of the book is reviews of 122 bars... Read more →
I was in New Delhi all last week working both on reporting on the Diageo Reserve World Class Global Finals here on my blog and helping Simon Difford and his (ass-kicking) crew write a special edition of the online magazine and produce the official book that will come out later.... Read more →
(Photo taken at Orgo in 2009) Last summer when I was in Singapore I had the chance to experience Japanese bartending for the first time. I went to Koffe Bar K, a chain with I think just one outpost in Sinagpore. They do ice ball carving there, though I didn't... Read more →