My brother just returned from Tokyo (via HND) and indicated he had a heck of a time trying to find a bottle of Hibiki in most stores in Tokyo.
Originally Posted by
AlwaysAisle
Hibiki starts from 12 years, where whisky has sit in a barrel for 12 years so number of bottles of 12 years Hibiki available was determined 12 years ago. Suntory whisky has become popular lately but there is no way to increase number of bottles available in market just because it has become popular.
Shortage of Hibiki at liquor stores will continue for next few years long as popularity of Hibiki continues. This is nothing liquor stores or Suntory can do about it…
That's disappointing. Thankfully I grabbed a bottle of Yamazaki 18 stateside (ezras.com has a phenomenal selection and ships to NC).
However I'm getting low on the Hibiki 17 I grabbed last year (on the what now seems ridiculously cheap 8000 yen) and really hopping to be able to grab 2 bottles when I'm in Japan in 5 weeks from either local department store / liquor store or the NRT / HND duty free (will be in both though NRT only to connect JL International to JL Domestic)