Yamazaki 18 Year Old Japanese Whisky 70cl

Deep, layered, and quietly intense, Yamazaki 18 is the kind of Japanese single malt that makes you slow down mid-sip and go, “Okay, I get it.” It’s built for nights when you want flavour that keeps unfolding, not a one-note pour.

• Nose: Dried fruit, dark chocolate, orange peel, toasted oak, a little incense-like spice
• Taste: Rich sherried fruit (think raisin and fig), cocoa, roasted nuts, and a firm oak backbone that gives it shape
• Finish: Long and evolving, waves of spice, bittersweet chocolate, and lingering dried fruit with gently drying oak

This is a single malt from Japan, and that matters because Yamazaki doesn’t aim for loud. It aims for detail. You’ll catch new corners of it as it opens up, especially if you give it a few minutes in the glass. It’s the sort of whisky that turns “one dram” into a whole evening.

The 18-year age statement isn’t a flex, it’s the reason the flavours feel stacked. Extra time in wood deepens the fruit-and-cocoa richness, rounds the edges, and brings that confident oak spice that holds everything together. The payoff is complexity you can taste without needing a dictionary.

Pour it neat when you want the full story. Add a few drops of water when you feel like poking around for extra aromas, the citrus and spice tend to lift and get chatty. Save the ice for something else, this one deserves your attention.

If you’re buying it for a gift, it’s a statement bottle without shouting. If you’re buying it for yourself, it’s a reward bottle, the kind you reach for when you want to mark a win, a milestone, or just a very good Tuesday.

Fun Fact: Yamazaki is Japan’s oldest commercial whisky distillery, founded in 1923 in a misty valley chosen for its famously soft water.