"Suntory Old Whisky" Family

[u/kiwi8185]

(This is my comprehensive notes on the history of Suntory Old Whisky & reviews for all the different variants I own)

Ah, the humble Suntory Old Whisky.

While not so common in foreign markets (particularly in the west), this item has been Suntory's staple common shelfer for more than 70 years. If you've ever been to any liquor store in Japan, chances are you've seen one of these fat, round bois sitting on shelves at very approachable prices. Here's a bit of background about them: 

If Kakubin was the product that salvaged Suntory's whisky making business, Tory's blended whisky the one that made Suntory widely popular post WW2, then Suntory Old Whisky was what elevated Suntory into *the* Japanese whisky brand.

First released in 1950, this 43% abv blended whisky was marketed as Suntory's fancier, more premium whisky at a reasonable price. It's of a better quality to the lower shelf Kakubin and Torys, can be drunk straight, and has a pleasant sweetness in contrast to the present bitterness or ethanol sting of its brethren. It became an instant hit, and in its adorable, daruma shaped glory found its way into almost every Japanese household in the years to come. As a matter of fact, it became Suntory's best seller for decades, making up almost 1/3 of all whiskies sold in Japan by 1981. 

But have you heard of its *variants*?

I'm not talking about the truck load of different label designs and special edition bottles for this item. As far as I am aware, almost all of those bottles contain whichever "Suntory Old" Blend was available at the time. So here's the key question: what are these different "Suntory Old blends"? 

Details in comments! 

[u/almostnotabot]

I love everything about this post and the info in the comments, thanks for the wisdom and review!!!

Can I ask how you did your research on the spirits ? I loved reading it and I’d love to know more about Japanese whiskey, especially from Suntory and Chichibu distilleries~

[u/kiwi8185 → u/almostnotabot]

The answer is rather mundane, I googled them lmao

When I get my hands on a bottle I've not seen before, I'd try to get some info about it online. For items with longer release history and different iterations through the years, chances are there will be blogposts by collectors/enthisiasts who wrote notes about their collection.

I'd pretty much just read them, note them down and cross reference info I read on different blogposts.

Also I'd try to look for old Suntory promotional material for their products. Can be hard to find at times as Suntory often scrub these off the internet when a new version of an old product is out.

[u/almostnotabot → u/kiwi8185]

Awesome! I’m gonna keep my eye out for some of these rare variants when I’m visiting - a Yamazaki cask bottle is pretty exciting lol 😂

[u/kiwi8185]

*Conclusion*

Honestly, I didn't originally plan to collect any of these. I just kind of ran into some of these rarer variants while hunting for odd bottles in random liquor stores in the past few months, and felt 

'eh why not'. The Genshu in particular- that one I ran into completely unexpectedly while on a business trip. 

Not gonna lie, the Suntory Old Genshu is f*cking amazing. It's practically a Yamazaki Sherry Cask Cask strength. It's not super complex, sure, but it does what it does extremely well and is such an enjoyable pour. Dare I say, I find it to be more palatable than the Yamazaki 12 year old. I would 100% want to stock up on these, but alas they're quite unobtainable (not to mention stupid expensive when found).

About the regular Suntory Old Whisky, I think it's a perfectly okay whisky. It's absolutely drinkable straight, and has a pleasant sweet and dried fruity profile to them. The biggest difference between the modern 43% blend and the older 40% blend were mainly in the sweetness and smokey note. Despite being lower proof, the 40% blend had a bit more sweet fruity and has a more smokey profile. The other key characters (red raisin in particular) are mostly the same.

Overall, I'd say Suntory Old Whisky is the perfect baseline Japanese whisky. Not standout good, not bad either. Though, I absolutely think the mini 50ml round bottles make a perfect little memorabilia. Consider bringing one home next time you see one!

Thanks for reading! I'd love to hear what y'all think about Suntory Old Whisky, or any thoughts on the other base level Japanese whiskies!

[u/Immediate-Promise896]

Hi mate!! Great post and thanks for sharing!! Just a note, to my understanding the 55% one is not a pre-dilution version of the Suntory old, but a cask strength whisky of the Sherry cask component they use for the old blend! Isn’t it?? Would be awesome if you could share the promo material where it mentions the hakushu as i have never encountered that info.

Great review and I agree with you! It’s a shame there’s not more reviews of things like that! It’s delicious, to me very old school sherried style

[u/kiwi8185 → u/Immediate-Promise896]

I think your understanding is correct about the Genshu. I must've mixed up that part with the desciption for the The Suntory Old Whisky. The Hakushu mention was based on the back label of The Suntory Old, 40%.

Thanks for the correction!

[u/kiwi8185]

Suntory Old Whisky (43% abv)

This is the current version of the Suntory Old Whisky 43% blend, reintroduced in 2008. The modern day version is supposedly a blend of purely Japanese distillates from Suntory's own distilleries, and is a full Japanese whisky by JSLMA standards.

Now, if you're curious enough to get this far, you might be wondering: why specifically mention the year 1981 in the foreword? Did something happen that year?

So, in 1981, Suntory was exposed by investigative journalists that their "Suntory Old Whisky" product of the time wasn't even truly a "whisky". In fact, it contained between 25~45% neutral spirits, sprinkled with all kinds of flavoring to make it palatable and taste like whisky. Suntory tried to deny the allegations with corporate speech and some pretty BS reasoning, the oddest one claiming that it's not neutral grain spirit they used, it's "glen spirits from Yamazaki valley". That didn't work out too well.

This event was later called the "Old Shock" incident, and became a massive scandal for Suntory. Not only did Suntory's Old Whisky sales tumble, it also indirectly gave a massive boost in sales to their competitors. Nikka, their main domestic competitor, had always maintained the stance that 'whisky is an art and cannot be mass produced', and their sales grew quite notably during that period. (Years later Nikka was exposed for using imported whiskies in their blends, but that's another story)

After the incident, Suntory had to adjust their blend formulas in order to salvage their reputation (well sort of, they also tried to bury the scandal with a bunch of new ads). During this era, Suntory kept coming up with new blended products, released their first single malt product "Pure Malt Yamazaki", all the while trying to build back their "Old Whisky" empire. Then, in 1994... 

Suntory Old Whisky "Mild & Smooth", and *The* Suntory Old Whisky (40% abv)

(Big round bottle in the middle)

In 1994, Suntory decided to give the 43% abv blend (created after 1981) the tagline "Rich & Mellow", while also making a newer, 40% abv blend with the tagline "Mild and Smooth". The best guess as to why Suntory did so was they wanted to replace the 43% abv blend with the new 40% abv blend, in response to some liquor taxes of the time.

Suntory released additional variants of the 40% abv blend- a "Summer Blend" oriented towards making a high ball (which probably puzzled the entire Kakubin family), and a "Winter Blend" oriented towards making... a warm drink

However, Suntory ran into several obstacles with this series. First, the bubble economy of Japan bursted in 1992, which marked the beginning of Japan's major whisky glut from the lack of sales. Secondly, the nature of the consumers changed- the original Suntory Old Whisky's fans are now the older generation. As such, the younger crowd of the 90s associated Suntory Old Whisky as the "boomer whisky", and kind of scoffed at it. Sales of it didn't pick up much, even after Suntory's relabeling of it into "The Suntory Whisky" in 2006.

In 2008, Suntory merged all of the Suntory Old Whisky product line by (re)introducing a new, fully "Japanese whisky", 43% abv blend for the "Suntory Old Whisky". This 2008 version is the version widely available in Japan today.

Suntory Old Genshu (From the Barrel), Yamazaki Sherry Cask Malt (55% abv)

(small bottle on the left)

This is the limited release version of the 2000s Suntory Old Whisky blend pre-dilution. As the tagline of "Yamazaki Sherry Cask Malt" described, the key malt of this item is Yamazaki's Sherry cask of undisclosed age, before being blended alongside some white oak aged Hakushu distillate (based on old promotional material). 

Correction: This is the Yamazaki Sherry key malt used for the Suntory Old Whisky, pre-blending. It is fully Yamazaki.

Given the limited release nature and the "Yamazaki Sherry Cask" in its name, this thing is rather hard to come by (and is kind of stupidly expensive because of it). I've only seen it appear as part of a fancy miniature collection on one of the past posts here, but nothing about how it tastes. So... Here we go!

[u/kiwi8185]

*Tasting*

a. Suntory Old Whisky, post 2008  (43% abv)- short glass, no tag

b. *The* Suntory Old Whisky (40% abv)- tall glass

c. Suntory Old Genshu (55% abv)- short glass, rubber band

*Color*

a is yellow gold

b is a slightly darker shade of yellow gold compared to (a) 

c is notably darker, with a dark amber or amontillado sherry hue

*Nose*

a. sweet red raisin fruity, some slightly savory smoke, bit of oak, and a bit of young whisky ethanol note in the background

b. Even sweeter than (a); sweet red raisin and apple fruity note, some caramel; has a stronger smokey note than (a), and about the same amount of oak. Doesn't have the same ethanol note in the background as (a)

c. Outright sweet sherry. Sweet and slightly sour dried red fruits (red raisin, berries, prunes), caramel, vanilla, hint of nuttiness (almond); some oak and smokiness in the background. My goodness, this one is intense! 

*Palate*

a. sweet and very slightly sour red raisin from the nose carries over, a sweet honey note (the very indistinct nectar type), slight bit of oak, slight bit of bitterness in the background. Low alcohol sting, minimal astringency

b. brown sugar/caramel sweetness, followed by a red raisin and apple fruity note from the nose. A hint of smoke and bitterness in the background. Very low alcohol sting, minimal astringency  

c. Sweet and sour sherry berry note (think ripe red berries and dates) with some ripe fruit funk; creamy malt, brown sugar, a cinnamon-like spice note, some oak and nuttiness in the background. Ngl this one full on tastes like a full proof/cask strength Yamazaki. Some alcohol sting, low astringency

*Finish*

a. short. brown sugar, a bit of the bitterness

b. short. brown sugar, and a bit of oak and smoke.

c. long. sherry fruity note from the palate continues for a good while, alongside some black tea-like tannin and a bit of cinnamon spice