Japanese Whisky Bushido
26 Whisky Magazine | Issue 167
the Samurai warriors. These include
integrity (Gi), Respect (Rei), Heroic
Courage (Honour), Compassion (Jin),Honesty and Sincerity (Makoto),Duty
and Loyalty (Chu). So far, Bushido havereleased three of these; Meiyo, Rei and
Makoto. Each of these bottlings will bea blend made up of seven whiskies from
seven different distilleriesThe Bushido Range is made up
four different bottlings; the Meiyo 15Years Old and 17 Years Old Pure Malt,
the Makoto 23 Years Old Single GrainWhisky and the REI Pure Malt. Each
one is unique and brilliant. For thoseunaware, Pure Malt is another way of
saying Blend, that has not been used inScottish whisky terminology for a while.
What is perhaps most exciting aboutthe Bushido range is that they are able
to offer whiskies with age statements
that other Japanese brands justcan’t these days. As we explored, the
Japanese whisky market is struggling tomeet demand and this means that malts
with higher age statements are beingdiscontinued. This is because the higher
the age statement, the long it takesto mature and that means the brands
would have had to be preparing to meetsuch high demand back when they were
βǤOther brands (lesser known ones
that are not on the international stage)have resorted to bottling Scottish malt
and labelling it Japanese as they wait fortheir stocks to mature.
The Bushido Series, because it hasbeen created by the Kumesen Distillery,
already has that mature stock, which isjust now being released to market.
The relative obscurity of Kumesen,having only really been famous in Japan
up until this point in time, means thatthey can more easily meet demand for
their product. It also helps that the maltis simply excellent.
The Bushido Series has have beencollecting awards relatively regularly
since their release. This is nothingnew for Japanese whisky as a category,
which is well known to be high quality,but for Bushido, this is new.
They have won multiple gold, silver
and bronze at various competitions,including Wine and Spirits Wholesalers
of America Awards, International SpiritsChallenge, International Wine and
Spirits Awards and the San FranciscoWorld Spirits Competition. They were
also given 93 points from WhiskyAdvocate and have been featured in
multiple publications as their top picksfor best whiskies in 2019. The Meiyo 17
Years Old is being picked up as one ofthe most impressive grains especially.
So it’s safe to say that Bushido hasbeen released to a good start. It is loved
by critics and fans all over.The future for Bushido
and Japanese whisky
The future is looking pretty bright forBushido. With the Meiyo 17 Years Old
performing the way it is, 2020 is lookinglike it might be a good year for the
brand. The other releases from BushidoSeries are performing well too.
As for the Japanese whisky marketas a whole, this is also a really exciting
time, despite the disappointments anddiscontinuations of late.
There is a lot of hope moving forwardfor the market, with innovative malts
such as the Bushido Series and thingslike Ao from Suntory. It might feel like a
time of adversity, but there is a lot thatcan be done. We’re also looking forward
to seeing what other brands havewhisky maturing away that we might
not have heard of it.“The future for Japanese whisky is
very bright, in our opinion, it’s rise tobe one of if not the best whisky has
just begun to get mainstream in thepast seven years starting in 2013. So
with continuous innovation withinthe category like our editions and
others we believe Japanese whisky willcontinue to win top whisky awards
around the world and will remain aprestigious place to make the world’s
best whiskies”, says Koz.The Japanese whisky market is
always one to keep an eye on, and therehas never been a better time.
This page, from top
to bottom:
A look at the REI
blended malt; The
range’s 15 Years Old
blended malt.024 - 026 - Japan_New-WM 167 .indd 26 09 / 04 / 2020 09 : 27