Publik Spotlight; The Yamazaki 12yr Japanese Whiskey

Like many others in the world of food and drink, the word Scotch is protected: it may only be applied to whisky that is distilled within the borders of Scotland. Of course, you could use the same recipe and distill your brew somewhere else in the world, but you couldn't call the results "Scotch." You could, however, call it "whisky" or even "single malt whisky" (assuming it meets the criteria defining a single malt). If you're from Japan, you'll probably call it The Yamazaki.

The Japanese have been distilling single malt whisky in the style of Scotch since the founding of the Yamazaki Distillery by a Scottish-trained whisky-maker in 1923. Like the Scots, Japanese distillers create their whisky using pure malted barley and the finest local water, which they process in copper pot stills. This brand was founded by Suntory, who also bottle Midori liqueur, beer, and Pepsi-Cola in Japan and own the patent on the blue rose. Suntory markets The Yamazaki as either a twelve-year-old or an eighteen-year-old single malt whisky. Originally deemed inferior to Scotch single malts, the Japanese product has done well in blind taste tests and thus made significant inroads into the world spirits market in recent years. It probably didn't hurt that this is the whisky Bill Murray's character advertises in "Lost in Translation." Remember how he savored every drop in those commercials? There's good reason...