A year ago, Yamazaki’s Sherry Cask 2013 won the award for best whisky in the world. Among my whisky drinking friends, Japanese whiskies were already loved and admired. Evidently though, the rest of the world suddenly woke up to its wonders.
By all reports, Japanese whisky stocks have been decimated as a result. A Yamazaki or Hibiki 12 would be a normal occurrence on the shelves of your local liquor store, and certainly the Japanese duty-free shops. No longer.
The combination of the award and continued global growth in whisky drinkers had caused stocks to dwindle. In response, Japanese whisky manufacturers have responded by both raising prices and, more importantly, discontinuing many the familiar “aged __ year” editions of their whiskys in favor for No Age Statement (NAS) bottles which give them the flexibility to use much younger casks to meet demand (a trend that extends beyond Japan to most whiskys these days).
TL;DR — Every familiar Japanese brand is higher priced, nearly impossible to find, or replaced with a much younger offering. This is the context for buying whisky in Japan today.
What to buy
You should abandon all hope of finding a good price on the Japanese brands you’re familiar with. The Yamazakis and Habikis of the world now come with huge mark up by default (Suntory raised their prices globally). The cheap(er) No Age Statement ones are flooding the market but you should find them in your local store soon so don’t waste the luggage space. Instead, you should look for brands that aren’t as well known outside of Japan. Ichiro’s, Mars, and White Oak are all making well-regarded bottles that you can’t easily find at home and won’t break the bank either.
If you have your heart set on one of the big name brands, I won’t talk you out of it. Still, you may want to keep an eye out for one of the discontinued bottles to make it worth your effort. Most distilleries also occasionally release a limited edition if you want to catch something you won’t find at home.
Also, it turns out Japan’s also been importing a ton of American Bourbon for the last few decades. Keep an eye out for some of the really old Elijah Craigs, Evan Williams, and Willets. I didn’t find any keepers but you might.
At most stores, a higher price (¥5,000+) is probably something unique, though not necessarily good. There’s no defacto site for quality, but for Japanese specifically, I like the Japanese Whisky Review as a benchmark.
Where to buy
I spent a lot of time researching stores in Kyoto and Tokyo, and below I include a breakdown of the locations I visited. That doesn’t mean you won’t find bottles outside of those cities. In fact, you’re probably more likely to find a gem or a deal further off the tourist worn path. And let me know if you do! With that in mind, here’s a few tips that should apply to most of the country:
Check out Liquor Mountain (english store locations). I found them to have the best combination of selection and price. They have locations everywhere, but keep an eye out for the ones that have the “Whisky Kingdom” section. They also have a good online store that will list their most recent limited edition acquisitions.Use Google Maps to see all Liquor Stores in the city you’re visiting (Kyoto example). You’ll get a bunch of interesting local shops. That said, it’s hard to check their selection without visiting so results will be hit or miss.Check the Japanese Department Stores: Isetan, Mitsukoshi, BIC Camera, Takashimaya, Daimaru. They often receive limited editions but won’t mark them up the way local shops do. Usually the grocery level is in the basement.Nearly all the corner stores (7/11, FamilyMart) have a small whisky section. I never found anything really interesting, though they might still be useful if you want to grab a few small bottles to go.Don’t rely on duty-free stores at the airport. There was a time where they had cheap deals, but that’s not the case now. Their Japanese stock is almost entirely no age statement and airport limited editions that have special packaging and a premium price but nothing else.
Two general points regardless of which stores you visit:
Most liquor stores don’t open before noon and close at random hours (7pm or 4am). Keep that in mind if you’re trying to slip in a visit between your actual vacation plans.Always look behind the counter. At most liquor store, that’s where they keep the good stuff!
Without further ado, here’s the shops I managed to fit into my trip (and a handy Google Maps format).
Kyoto
Liquor Mountain
Start here, it’s where I bought five out of my six bottles. Two locations right near Kawaramachi station, both with good selections and good prices.
Tsunoki Sake in Nishiki market
Mom and pop shop with some good notable bottles. Even beat Liquor Mountain on one price. Though the selection is small, it’s well curated and has some good bourbons as well.
Yamaya (aka World Liquor Systems)
This place had a huge collection of whiskies but nothing particularly rare, and the collection was rather light on Japanese options.
Liquor Shop One
A random place we stumbled across wandering the alleys near Kawaramachi Station. It had a discontinued Tsuru on the shelf and I have a little regret not grabbing it. It’s worth checking these smaller shops as you see them.
Liquor Burn Discount Liquors
Very little “discount” but it did have a few rare bottles, just with notably high prices.
Daimaru Department store
I checked but it didn’t have anything mind blowing here
Yamazaki Distillery Giftshop
You’ll have to call a few weeks (I heard months) ahead to get a reservation for the tour. But you don’t have to take the tour to visit the tasting room or the giftshop. The tasting room gives you option to taste a bunch of very unique whiskies from Yamazaki, Hibiki, and other Suntory brands, but you won’t find any of those in the gift shop (I spotted a Yamazaki 12).
I bought a small bottle of …something. Frankly, I’m not quite sure what it is and my limited Japanese didn’t help. It’s a simple bottle with a really light taste. I suspect it’s a completely un-aged Yamazaki distillate. You can try it in the tasting room if you want to see if you’ll like it. Sadly, it’s about the only unique thing there.
The tour used to be quite a deal for samples. Now you get Yamazaki’s no age statement and Suntory Blended as highballs at the end of the tour. The glory days are over.
Tokyo
Liquors Hasegawa
This is the most famous whisky store in Tokyo. It had an amazing selection of scotch but a pretty weak collection of Japanese specifically. Still, it should be on your list as they’ll let you taste many of their bottles for ¥100 a shot.
Liquor Mountain
Had the same stock as the Kyoto stores which means you should be covered even if you’re not leaving Tokyo.
Shinanoya World Wine and Foods
Had probably the best scotch selection anywhere in Tokyo, if you’re open to more than Japanese, I’d definitely recommend you come here. (Note, I only made it to the Shinjuku location. The Ginza location on my map wasn’t open at the time)
Rando liquor store
Just down the road from World and Liquor mountain
Isetan Department store
This is why folks recommended checking out liquor stores. Great selection and a tasting bar!
Mitsukoshi Department store
A paired down version of Isetan’s liquor department, but still had the limited editions.
BIC camera Department store
The sign outside listed Whisky and Drones on the same floor so I had to visit. Good selection of non-Japanense whisky, but pretty limited in local bottles.
Narita Duty-free
Nothing of interest unless you want to pay 2–3x markup for a fancy bottle. For what it’s worth, I also checked duty-free stores in China and South Korea and none of them had any Japanese stock.
Zoetrope
Not a store but a bar with the best selection of Japanese whisky probably in all of Japan. I got to try the Ichiro’s card series which is unlikely to be an option anywhere else in the world.
How to buy and bring home
Most places take credit card. Though if you’re going to be stopping at small stores, you may want to have ¥20k-30k with you just in case.
You may also want to try using the tax free stores, which will give foreigners a refund on the 8% consumption tax if they spend more than 5,000 and show your passport with purchase. That said, the process is kind of a pain in the ass (you need to visit a separate desk in the store for the refund, you can’t open your purchase until you leave, and the airport is supposed to verify they’re still sealed but they never did for us) so you may want to skip the hassle if the savings aren’t a big deal.
When you’re returning home, you’ll need to bring things through customs. The current wording on the US customs form allows you to bring up to $800 in merchandise without paying duty and I had no issues bringing my $400 worth in.
As always, your milage may vary. I’ve read elsewhere that you may be limited to 1L, but the immigration form doesn’t mention that or any other specific restrictions on alcohol. Those that have paid duty say the extra fees are small so prepare for that outcome and be honest about what you’ve brought with you.
I hope this gives you enough pointers to go treasure hunting on your own. Whatever you get, make sure you let me give it a taste 😀
Bonus: The haul
Just in case you were curious what I ended up bringing home.
From left to right:
Akashi White Oak Single Malt (Liquor Mountain in Kyoto)Nikka Taketsuru 17 (Liquor Mountain in Kyoto)Ichiro’s Malt Double Distilleries (Tsunoki Sake in Kyoto)Yamazaki 2015 Limited Edition (Liquor Mountain in Kyoto)Yamazaki no-age distillate (Yamazaki Distillery Giftshop near Kyoto)
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