Duke787

My apologies that should say Hibiki 17. Was typing from my phone and didn't realize it had auto-corrected. Sorry about that!

MegatopLover

Went to quite a few shops in Tokyo looking for the Japanese whiskies mentioned in this thread. Several smaller shops and groceries with liquor sections in Roppongi had none of this stuff. A bottle shop in Ginza had nothing either, to the point of having a little sign taped to the shelf saying they had no Hibiki 12, 15, 17 etc.

Thanks to this thread, I found Yamazaki at the Don Quijote shop in Roppongi for 4100 yen. But it was just the entry-level stuff, no age. Don Quijote had a lot of liquor, including some high-end imported stuff, but had no Japanese whiskey with any age on it. Same story at Bic Camera Yurakucho-- plenty of supply of entry level stuff but sold out of anything with age.

FaSoLa at Narita Terminal 1, South Wing, had plenty of stock of aged stuff. Hibiki 12 was 10,000 yen, while Hibiki 17 was in the neighborhood of 18,000, IIRC (but I'm not clear on that because I didn't buy that one).

After quite a bit of searching, my hotel concierge found a shop in Ginza that mostly supplies restaurants and bars but does sell retail and had some in stock. Yamazaki NV for 4300 yen, Yamazaki Limited Edition 2015 for 19,000 yen. Hibiki Japanese Harmony (NV) for 4200 yen, 17 for 14,000 yen, 21 for 32,000 yen, and 30 for a stonking 278,640 yen. Salut! Shop is called Sake no Sokuhai, Muraki Motake Building, 1F, 8-6-4 Ginza.

mkjr

http://www.shinanoya.co.jp/

The location in Ginza had the hibiki 17. It was 12800 plus tax. They also had the Yamazaki 2015 LE. It was 10000. The store, liquor express, just up the street had everything at mouth dropping prices. Some really silly pricing. So don't say you can't find anything.

Duke787

Thank you thank you thank you! I'll swing by both places mentioned in Ginza on Friday and hopefully between the two can get at manage at least 1 Hibiki 17!

mkjr

No problem. They had a few yesterday.


And one of the more absurdly priced bottles from the other store on the top shelf. I guess they only have pictures of the really expensive stuff and probably keep locked up.



I'll be at NRT T2 shortly so perhaps I'll update pricing if I can get my stuff together.

Jigen666

That's the store a few doors down from the Ginza Shinanoya right?

Yeah, they're crazy expensive. That Ichiro's Malt Joker Color goes for about $900-$1,200 at Auction sites, so that's ridiculous.

OTOH, at that same store I found a Four Roses Small Batch Limited Edition 2013 (125 Anniversary Edition), for about $130, which is both a rare find and a great price. Who would have ever thunk you could find a rare bottle of American bourbon, both available & cheaper there than it is in the US. Especially at a store that marks up Japanese whisky to outrageously insane prices.

mkjr

Yes. Either up or down depending on the direction you are coming from. It opens later also. 2pm I recall.

Pretty much no change on prices at NRT as reported.

They have a little souvenir three pack.

Torys malt. No idea what it's like but the vintage labels are pretty cool.

Sorry for the blurry photo. I was getting scoffed at for no photos.



These were the more reasonable end of the range at the Uber high end store. I tried the Nature of Shinshi Rindo and also the Ichiro MWR the night before at Zoetrope and they were not my style.

So you could try a few before you buy.

mkjr

Frankly, the best deal was the Nikka pure malt, Nas at the second store in Ginza on special for 2450 for a 700 ml bottle. Pretty decent stuff and reflective of the 12 year one that was discontinued IMO.

Jigen666

And they close at like 3AM.

They're the bottom shelf of Suntory Whisky, mainly a Highball mixer. But yes, the classic Tory logo is cool.

The MWR & Double Distilleries sell for less than 6,000 yen in Shinanoya when they have them in stock. The Rindo is about 8,000 where you can find it.

A cheap place to try before you buy is Liquors Hasegawa, in Tokyo Station in the Yaesu underground shopping center. There's 3 Hasegawa stores though and only one of them lets you try stuff, for anywhere between 300 to 900 yen for a 1oz shot. It's the store furthest away from the station. Prices on their liquor bottles themselves, compared to Shinanoya, aren't so great but not as crazy overpriced as that Ginza store.

Enjoy the rest of your trip.

armagebedar

Just to clarify -- there are two Liquors Hasegawa: the main store further away from the station underneath Yaesu-dori; and the North Exit store closer to the station. The tastings are only done at the main store.

Here are the tasting fees. They run from 100 to 700 JPY for 10ml, depending on the price of the bottle, and you can do up to 2 tastings at once, and a maximum of 5 tastings in a day.

exerda

Not a duty free question, but this seems the best thread for overall Japanese whisky info... Near the beginning of Golden Week (April 29 or 30), I plan to visit the Nikka Miyagikyo distillery (hoping the shinkasen isn't a madhouse heading north from Tokyo, FWIW). I've already confirmed with the distillery that they're open both dates, and yeah, I know the tours are Japanese-language-only--no biggie, as I've done winery tours in Spanish (of which I speak less than I do Japanese!).

But any thoughts on whether or not they'll have anything interesting for sale? Given they're all the way up in Sendai, it would seem a better bet than anywhere closer to Tokyo, Osaka, or Kyoto.

Regardless, I'm looking forward to the tour.

Duke787

To follow-up I went to Shinanoya first yesterday and they were completely out of anything with a age statement except The Nikka12.

Then walked down the street to Sake no Sokuhai. They had a few things out with ages but no 17 but I asked (don't speak Japanese but was able to point to the 30 and get the question across).

To my luck they said they had one bottle in the back and they sold it to me for 12800.

I'm at NRT now and see the same thing that everyone else has reported: 20000 for 17.

The new NAS Nikka is probably the best deal at 3750 and they do have The Nikka 12yo but nothing worth buying IMO.

mkjr

That's good. Sorry, perhaps I should have pm'd you but perhaps there are droves of people searching for the remaining stock.

The Nikka Nas is at liquor express for 2450. And it was best japan blended malt, for those that care about WWA's for 2016.

exerda

I want some of the Fuji Gotemba 25, which was WWA Best Blended Whisky IIRC for 2016.

mkjr

Saw that also. Pretty sure as of March 15 you could try it at zoetrope. At least I recall seeing it on the menu in my foggy state.

I opted to try these two from fuji gotemba instead.