Whisky Magazine Japan has announced results of the Japan round of the World Whiskies Awards 2018. Round 2 winners will go on to the global competition to compete for World’s Best titles.
Round 1 winners are listed below, with Round 2 winners indicated in bold.
Blended
- NAS: Super Nikka
- 12Y or under: The Nikka 12
- 13Y~20Y: Suntory Whisky Hibiki 17
- 21Y or more: Suntory Whisky Hibiki 21 (2017’s World’s Best Blended winner)
Blended Limited Release
- NAS: Ichiro’s Malt & Grain Limited Edition
- 12Y or under: MOON GLOW First Release (Wakatsuru Saburomaru is a distillery to watch in 2018/19)
- 13Y~20Y: Kirin Whisky Fuji Sanroku Blended Whisky 18 Small Batch Limited Edition
- 21Y or more: No entries
Blended Malt
- NAS: Taketsuru Pure Malt
- 12Y or under: No entries
- 13Y~20Y: Taketsuru 17 Pure Malt
- 21Y or more: Taketsuru 21 Pure Malt
Grain
- NAS: Fuji Gotemba Distillery Blender’s Choice Single Grain Whisky (the 25Y version of this was named 2017’s World’s Best Grain)
- Other ages: No entries
Single Cask Single Malt
- NAS: Ichiro’s Malt Single Cask #2067 (Venture’s Chichibu Whisky Matsuri 2017 release took the World’s Best Single Cask Single Malt title last year)
- 12Y or under: Fuji Gotemba Distillery Single Malt Whisky Aged 12 Years Red Wine Cask Finish Single Cask No. 3 H117
- 13Y~20Y: No entries
- 21Y or more: No entries
Single Malt
- NAS: Fuji Gotemba Distillery Distiller’s Select Single Malt
- 12Y or under: Suntory Single Malt Hakushu 12
- 13Y~20Y: Suntory Single Malt Hakushu 18
- 21Y or more: Suntory Single Malt Hakushu 25
As you can see Japanese distilleries have made a very, very strong showing at previous competitions, so I suspect we have plenty to look forward to this year as well. Congratulations to the winners, and best of luck at the global competition! It will be held on March 22, 2018.
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