TOKYO - The famed Yamazaki distillery marks its 100th anniversary this year with plenty to celebrate, as Japan's acclaimed aged whiskies command increasingly eye-watering prices thanks to growing demand and longstanding shortages.
Japan's oldest distillery has sat at the foot of a mountain outside Kyoto since it was built by Shinjiro Torii, the founder of Yamazaki maker Suntory, who wanted to make whisky suited to a Japanese palate.
It is largely foreign demand, along with the relative scarcity of the most desirable decades-old bottles, that has pushed prices sky-high.
A bottle of Yamazaki 55, with an official retail price of three million yen ($20,700), sold for a whopping $600,000 at a Sotheby's auction in New York last year. That was still well below the record $795,000 set at a Hong Kong auction in 2020.
And in Japan's upscale Ginza district, a more modest Yamazaki 18 with a manufacturer's price of 32,000 yen ($220) is on sale for 120,000 yen.
Suntory does not disclose production volume but the distillery's senior general manager Takahisa Fujii said it has risen dramatically over the past 20 years.
The company announced plans this year to pump 10 billion yen into its Yamazaki and Hakushu distilleries, but demand still far outstrips capacity.
"We have received so many requests for our whisky from customers around the world, so we are trying to respond to them as best we can," Fujii said.
The Yamazaki distillery welcomes dozens of visitors from Japan and abroad each day but those hoping to stock up on aged varieties come away disappointed.
The distillery's unique range of copper stills in different shapes and sizes also contribute to the brand's particular profile