Guided tour of Suntorys Yamazaki Whisky Destellery in Kyoto - booked!

Now that I have more or less scheduled how to spend my week in Japan and booked the accommodation in Kyoto, I tried to reserve a seat on the whiskey tour on Suntory . On Suntorys web there is only a telephone number and despite attempts to try googling up an email address, I did not find a single one. (Nor was there a single person on Santori in Japan on LinkedIn). When I accidentally ended up in a thread on TripAdvisor about this tour and read "However bookings are essential as the tour Proves popular. When we phoned three months in advance there was only a few spaces left on the date we wanted to go" I began to get a little nervous.

However, when I called today, Monday 2/9, it was no problem at all to book a place exactly on the day and time I wanted (Friday 13/9 at 14.00). So my fears were unfounded.

Called with Skype for iPhone by the way, so convenient and cheap with their mobile app where you can call out to ordinary numbers worldwide and it costs almost nothing.

Is Japanese whiskey any good then? At blind tastings, it is impossible to distinguish Japanese from Scottish. Last year, the  Yamazaiki 25-year-old whiskey´was named world's best Malt in Whisky Magazine , this year it was beaten by Ardbeg Galileo but kept the place as best Japanese malt whiskey. By coincidence, it is precisely this Yamazaki that is manufactured in Kyoto so I will be sure to try it out. (Though perhaps not in such large quantities, as a bottle costs around 1000 USD:-)

How do I get there then? By train from Kyoto:

• JR Kyoto Station to JR Yamazaki Station (about 15 minutes))

• The distillery is located about 10 minutes on foot from JR Yamazaki Station and Hankyu Oyamazaki Station.

Whisky Bars and whiskey tasting in Japan - Tokyo and Kyoto

Whisky is one of my great interests and since over 10 years, I am with the whiskey association "The Barrel Boys", which in turn is a member of the Swedish Whisky Association. Our club owns whiskey casks located at storage in Scottland, at Bruichladdich and Glengoyne . Every other year we head over to Scottland to sample the drums but this year there will be whiskey tasting in Japan for me instead. I got in touch with a Whisky Club in Tokyo and asked for advice and got a whole list of good whiskey bars. The list seemed a bit out of date though, so after checking up the different bars online, this is the updated list:

In Tokyo:

• Cask Roppongi ( Website only in Japanese as I run through Google Translate, seems to have closed)
• Wodka Tonic (Unclear website , on Google maps, it looks like an apartment building!)
• Helmsdale (Scottish Gourmetpub, maybe not what I'm after when going to Japan!)
• Speyside Way (looks cozy! )
• Mashtun (looks good)
• Bar Highlander (Scottish bar, goes away for me for the same reason as Helmsdale)
• Bar Talisker (Ginza). Seems to have no website, but the address info available here .
• Shot Bar Zoetrope (Shinjuku Japanese whiskey specialist). Clearly the bar I am most eager to visit. Whiskymag , writes "The owner of Zoetrope, Atsushi Horigami, formernvideo games designer, set up this cool little bar as a shrine to his two great passions: Japanese whiskey and American movies". They might have one of the world's best selection of Japanese whiskey.

Shot Bar Zeotrope

And in Kyoto:

• Rocking Chair (difficult to understand the web in Japanese)
• Bar Y'ya (find no info at all on the web)
• Common One Club (find no info at all on the web)
• Yatta (restaurant and bar upstairs-near to Common wealth One Club)
• Tozan Bar (within the Hyatt Regency Hotel )
• Kanga'an (a restaurant & bar within atemple).

Here, Google Maps with Street View very useful, in several bars you can for example go in via Google and see how it looks inside the bar!

Bar Talisker in Tokyo in Google Maps - looks lovely!

Helmsdale Tokyo - do not look quite as cozy ...

So, I will "enter" all the bars via Google and prioritize those that look best!

I also got tips on that particular week I'm in Tokyo, it is also Tokyo Autumn Tasting Week in Bar High Society. A weekly event where they presents many new whiskeys. However, the image on the Bar High Society is not so appealing. For me - whisky bars should be small, dark and have walls full of whisky!

Bar High Society in the Park Hotel, Tokyo

In Kyoto (2.5 hours by train from Tokyo) is one of Japan's top 10 destelleries - Suntory - and it will be really fun to visit. They make the Yamazaki whiskey there and hold guided tours, tastings, etc.. Suntory will probably be one of the highlights in Japan!

At Suntory Museum