Yamazaki 15 Year Old Single Sherry Butt CM 70012 1998

Yamazaki was founded in 1923 by Shinjiro Torii and located in the Vale of Yamazaki, between Osaka and Kyoto, an area chosen for it's water supply and favourable maturation climate. Torii was already established as an importer of fine wine from European and was keen to move into the world of spirits. The setup of the distillery was aided by another soon-to-be titan of Japanese whisky - Masataka Takesuru, who went on to establish Nikka. Over the next 60 years, Yamazaki produced a number of successful blended whiskies, notably Shirofuda and Kakubin, but it wasn't until 1984 that the first ever single malt was released.

The 1990s saw the development of many of the Yamazaki bottlings that have made the distillery world famous - the 10 Year Old, 18 Year Old and 25 Year Old. Limited edition releases fly off the shelves and Yamazaki is now firmly established not only as one of Japan's greatest distilleries, but one of the world's greatest. The distillery has seen a number of refurbishments and expansions over the years and now operations 12 stills allowing them to produce over six millions litres a year.