Hakushu Sherry Cask 2014
Post by Stefan Van Eycken, Tokyo
For many Japanese whisky fans, one of the indisputable highlights of last year - as far as single malt (non-single cask) releases were concerned - was the Hakushu Sherry Cask 2013. Suntory has just announced that they will be releasing the 2014 version of that on February 18th. Hakushu Sherry Cask 2014 is the third release of its kind, and just like before, it will be highly limited (3,000 bottles only, which is just half a dozen casks vatted together), highly sought-after (probably gone in less than week) and restricted to the domestic market. It will be bottled at 48% and retail for about 9,000 yen.
Hakushu has done very well over the past year, with sales of the entry-level single malt (i.e. ‘Hakushu [NAS]’, which is not available in foreign markets) showing a 40% increase compared with 2012. Suntory execs ascribe this huge increase in sales to the continuing popularity of the highball phenomenon (at home, that is). These figures also remove any doubt as to what motivated whisky producers here (not just Suntory) to move to no-age-statements. A decade ago, when whisky was laid down for the present, nobody would have been able to predict this sort of growth.
To the big producers, obviously, volume is everything. To give you an idea of the sort of figures involved (again, this is about the home market), contemplate this: last year, for the first time in two decades, Suntory sold more than 3 million cases of their iconic ‘Kakubin’ (which is spearheading the highball boom). Based on an estimate of 30ml of whisky used per highball, that’s enough for 840 million highballs. Lining up these highballs would take you around the earth and then again to the other side. In this context, 3,000 bottles of Hakushu Sherry Cask is like a drop in a bucket of water, but it’s great to see that Suntory is not neglecting the whisky fans who’ve stayed with them and supported them through thick and thin. If this year’s Hakushu Sherry Cask is anything like last year’s, it promises to be an absolute gem. We’ll keep you posted!
Hakushu has done very well over the past year, with sales of the entry-level single malt (i.e. ‘Hakushu [NAS]’, which is not available in foreign markets) showing a 40% increase compared with 2012. Suntory execs ascribe this huge increase in sales to the continuing popularity of the highball phenomenon (at home, that is). These figures also remove any doubt as to what motivated whisky producers here (not just Suntory) to move to no-age-statements. A decade ago, when whisky was laid down for the present, nobody would have been able to predict this sort of growth.
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