Life Ikejiri
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My dad showed me some of his limited edition bottles from yamazaki and hakushu made for www shop in osaka and some owners bottles he got from some small restaurants in proximity to yamazaki. Some cool 300ml, some 180ml, some 700ml....so many odd things I'd never seen. In addition, many 18 and 12 and 10 year from yoichi, yamazaki, miagakyo, and even a little bottle of 10 year old hakushu. His comment, son, there will always be another must have object in your life....your mission.....find the object before the hoards. He said too many hoards looking for largely irrelevant whiskey in japan. Haha, he also sold some fake crap at auction...sorry, I mean label from Japan but clearly not.

Liquor Mountain 777 new cabinets


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Wow, loving all of the Nikka there, but the prices are a touch on the insane side.

Indeed! It’s like they put very little thought into assessing even the current aftermarket price and just slapped on some huge round figures.

Then again, Liquor Mountain bear my house charges 20,000 for Yama 12 so it’s not surprising.

Fair warning, low rent palate here.

To me, Toki is not very good and I like Kakubin. My feeling of Toki is it's mixer level quality and designed to capitalize off of the popularity of Japanese whisky and the Suntory name. Very happy with NFTB when it's available but as you find it, like most actual Japanese whiskies in the US, it is quite steep both compared to prices in Japan and to non-Japanese whiskies.

Its a highball whisky, and also marketed as such. Personally I think it makes a great highball, which is otherwise difficult to find in the US.

Anyone here tried the new Ichiro's 505? My local bartender buddy offered me a bottle at retail (15,000 yen) but it seems a bit high for a world blend. Not sure if I should pull the trigger on that or not...

While curious enough to grab a dram if I come across it at a bar, I won’t bite either, not for a world blend.

I have a bottle waiting for me in Japan. Its being sold elsewhere for 25,000+ so I think you should grab it at retail. Especially since the whole concept of the release is to help out the local bars, I don't mind paying a bit more.
By the way, it has a composition of much more malt than grain compared to the typical Ichiro's white label.
I have heard it is delicious.

Sure glad someone else mentioned Toki.

I bought a bottle for a friend in the USA, without tasting it. Now I am looking to purchase a bottle IN Japan so at least I can say I tried it. Is this an export-only item?

I guess why not order one and try it out! He did tell me I could order more than one bottle but one is good for now. I guess I am also getting another bottle of Hibiki 21 from him at 25,000 yen! This is going to be an expensive order for the month!

Hundreds of bottles available on Japan auction sites, selling in the 18,000 - 20,000 yen range.

A throwback to simpler times
 

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Nearly 10 years ago!

Yea I miss the good old time! But one thing to consider, the exchange rate was 1 USD to ~70 yen back then. Which would put Hakushu 12 to $80-85 USD range. I would say the best year was 2013 - 2015 when a lot of things were still readily available (Yamazaki 12 was 7300 yen, 2014 LE was 8000 yen, H17 was 9,000 yen) and exchange rate was 1 USD to ~120 yen! Oh well, it's 2020 now and nothing good is on the shelves...