...where distraction is the main attraction.

Tuesday, July 22, 2014

NOT Single Malt Report: Hibiki 12 year old meets The Bearded Lady

Once upon a time, four months ago, I bought a bottle of a now-defunct Japanese blended whisky, Suntory Royal SR, bottled in the early '80s.  At the liquor store I was excited by the $25.99 price tag, but once I got home I was less excited by the fact that the cork had been nearly vaporized and the seal was long gone.  It was a very strange whisky as a result, oxidized and possibly corked, and it -- dubbed The Bearded Lady -- joined a crew of other freaks in my cabinet.  It also seemed to be bottomless, despite losing plenty of liquid to the Bastard's Share.

Here's how I had to store the poor thing, champagne cork and all:

And now the bottle has found a better purpose in its next life:

Where was I going with this?

Oh, in the comments section of my review of The Bearded Lady, reader Eric asked how it compared with Hibiki 12 year old (the current big Suntory blended whisky).  I had a sample of Hibiki 12 in the cabinet but hadn't even considered matching the two blends up.  Thanks for the idea, Eric!  Here it goes.

Hibiki 12 year old
Brand: Hibiki
OwnershipSuntory Whisky
DistilleriesYamazaki and Hakushu for malt, Chita for grain
Age: minimum 12 years
Bottled: Early 2010s
Maturation: "a variety of cask types", including Mizunara casks (also see comments below)
Country: Japan
Alcohol by Volume: 43%

Suntory Royal SR (aka The Bearded Lady)
Brand: Suntory Royal
OwnershipSuntory Whisky
DistilleriesYamazaki, maybe Chita?
Age: ???
Bottled: Early 1980s
Maturation: maybe a blend of ex-bourbon, ex-sherry, and Mizunara casks?
Country: Japan
Alcohol by Volume: 43.4%

So, it's the current (conceived, brand-wise, in 2009) and very popular 12 year old blend from Suntory versus a discontinued NAS blend from Suntory.  The SR's label specifically names the Yamazaki distillery.  Hibiki has both Yamazaki and Hakushu malts in it.  The two ABVs are very similar.  The Hibiki has been in a Master of Malt sample bottle for a brief but unknown period of time.  The SR sat in its 750mL bottle for at least 30 years and had a noticeably low neck (or shoulder) fill before I opened it (and maybe some dissolved cork too); plus this sample comes from the bottom third of the bottle.


Hibiki 12 year old
Color -- Medium gold
Nose -- There are moments of toasted oak at the start, but then there's a blast of berry syrup and berry candy, maraschino cherries (the cheap kind), lychee, and raspberries. There's plum wine and lots of it, followed by paint fumes.
Palate -- Here's some toasty malt.  Then American oak but toasted rather than charred.  A nice tartness somewhere between an orange and a lemon, then a hint of nuttiness, and ground cayenne pepper.  There's slight bitterness after the whisky has been aired out. Overall it's somewhat drying, probably due to the tannins. 
Finish -- Sweetness grows here, think sugar and marshmallows. Then some acidic citrus. The toasty part remains and is joined by overripe bananas.

[Okay, I had to do some searching midway through because there was way too much berry action going on in the nose.  Normally I don't research cask types until after a tasting, but I had to know what was going on. Master of Malt and The Whisky Exchange say that some of the blend's elements are matured in plum liqueur barrels, other sources say parts were only finished in these (umeshu) barrels.  The official website says nothing about it.  Anyway, once I read that, the subtle plum wine notes suddenly got much bigger.  Coincidence, of course.]

Suntory Royal SR (also see here for original review)
Color -- Medium gold, too, but rosier
Nose -- Watermelon candy, mothballs, and Purple.  Strawberry bubble gum and lime zest.  Tonic (the corn syrup kind) and caramel.  Less potent than at the top of the bottle but still not shy.  Something's rotting in the background, something once alive, and it's not necessarily fruit.
Palate -- Wet and muddy notebook paper, vanilla, caramel, Purple.  Lime-ish.  A synthetic note for which I still can't define after a full bottle.  Lots of body to it though.
Finish -- An odd rotten whipped cream thing.  Some herbal bitters and vanilla.

Hibiki 12
Positives -- The nose is a lot of fun.  This is an instance when an unusual maturation works in the whisky's favor.  Though the palate rides all the way through on its oak, it's not off-putting, and it finishes well.

Negatives -- But there's not a whole lot going on in the palate, especially after the bright and zippy nose.  For a whisky at half its price tag, that's not dealbreaker.  But at $60?  No matter how pretty the bottle looks, the stuff inside is for drinking.

Suntory Royal SR
Positives -- It's not shy.  The nose almost works, it has a good mouthfeel, and the bitterness in the finish is decent.  It leaves me wondering what a normal bottle of this was like in 1981.

Negatives -- I don't think I've ever finished a glass of it.  Whether it's the oxidation or Old Bottle Effect or cork or the whisky itself, there's something off-putting on every level.  Additional oxidation in a mostly empty bottle and in the glass can't kill it off.

Hibiki 12 wins, and not just because SR loses.  Hibiki 12 gets almost all of its character from the oak and the plum liqueur that once sat in some of its barrels, and while I'd rather have more whisky in my whisky, the blend often works.  But it works as a beginner's blend and not much more.  It's very possible you'll like it better than I, but I recommend trying it at a bar or via a sample before laying out $55-$75 for it.

Hibiki 12 year old
Availability - Most specialty retailers
Pricing - $55-$75 (US)
Rating - 82

Suntory Royal SR (oxidized and possibly corked)
Availability - Happy hunting
Pricing - I found mine for $25.99 but who knows what it sells for elsewhere?
Rating - 71 (down from 75 in its original review)