japanese whiskey
 

a friend is passing through japan next week, and asked if i'd like them to pick up any duty free whiskey for me.

i have never tried any japanese brands but i'm curious. can anyone here give me some pointers as to what they should pick up?

Is your friend only going through the duty free or is he/she going into Tokyo itself? Prices and availability vary widely depending on that.

My personal favorite is Hibiki 17 which I just got for 13800 Yen but at NRT the next day it was for 20k Yen which is a far cry from the 8k it was 2 years back (though sadly still a relatively decent deal compared to the US secondary market these days).

I think the NAS are the best value along with The Nikka12yo (though I'm not a huge fan of if personally). Yamazaki 18 and Hibiki 21 (and anything with a higher age statement) all have silly prices at the Duty Free (and in the Tokyo stores I went to) so I wouldn't even bother.

Check out this thread for reports from HND/NRT and the area (both from me and from others who have far more detailed knowledge about shops outside the airport):

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/japan...hiskey-22.html

Té Bheag blended scotch review
 

Has anyone tried this yet? What's your take?

thanks, Duke787! that thread is very helpful.

I found a bottle of Whiskey in Ireland and the store won't ship the the US. If I buy it in Dublin and fly home with it in my check luggage will I have any trouble claiming it as my own (which it is) or as a gift?

Only one bottle? Shouldn't have a problem. You're allowed to bring in that much.

Well it's two. I found two bottles of a very limited release. OK, good to know they (my bottles) will be good to come in as personal.

IME it is best to declare all the alcohol. Your duty free exemption is based on the amount of liqour/wine/beer. One bottle is never a problem under one's excemption. Many times the custom officer will waive you through without any additional duty or taxes if it is over by a small amount (2 750ml/cc bottles). Even if you were to pay duty and tax on the excess amount it is usually very small under personal use.

This is good advice but there is a member here on this board. A Government Issue Amazement or something like that who knows everything about everything.

On a personal note, they didn't seem to care that I was bringing in over my limit of alcohol, just that I visited a farm or something in the last week in the UK.

That is the plan - thank you!

Yeah, they care if you're bringing in more than the limit because they want you to pay the tax on it.

The farm thing is more concerning because you might have been exposed to some farm pathogen, which could conceivably get loose on US farms and in the worst case decimate an entire sector of the economy.

Here's the thing... You say they wanted me to pay the tax on it and yet, they didn't ask me to. Why not? I remember because I was there.

And I also don't recall decimating an entire sector of the economy. That seems like something that would have made the papers. At least the Ford County Times would have had a blurb about it.

Why the combative attitude? I don't see anything in gfunkdave's post accusing you of anything. He simply made a factual (and correct) statement that the customs officials are tasked with enforcing duty/tax laws on imports.

The fact that customs agents often (not always, but often, IME) don't enforce duty charges on small, obviously-for-personal-consumption amounts of alcohol doesn't change the fact that that is what they are tasked to do. gfunkdave is absolutely correct, but it is also correct that most customs agents will only really push enforcement on commercial quantities (where someone may be importing in order to resell).

Same thing with the farm statement--gfunkdave gave the reason they have the whole farm visit rule in place. Nothing in his sentence even remotely accused you of doing anything wrong.

Have you ever tried Johnnie Walker Double Black? I'm told it has qualities of an Islay single malt.

Stopped in my local liquor store and they are having a single malt sale. Picked up lava 16, tallister storm and ober 18. I want to get one more but I am torn between the Mac 18 and from reading a large chunk of this thread the tallister 18.

I am a little gun shy on the Mac 18. Have had a glass twice in the last six months (from the same place). The first time it was awesome. Probably my all time favorite. The next time I went back (last week) the Mac didn't taste the same- not sure if the place was playing games or it was a bad bottle. Much more overwhelming alcohol taste if that makes sense. (My wife agreed-she almost liked the 1st time, didn't like the second so I don't think it was in my mind).

I have had tallister Storm before and liked that. The tallister is almost half the cost of the Mac but I have never had it. If the Mac was like the 1st bottle than I really think that would be a great purchase but I disliked the 2nd pour. The tallister 18 seems to be very popular here.

Any thoughts? I don't drink scotch outside home very often so I don't mind splurging for home.