Japanese Whisky (or is it...)

[David88]

I’ve seen a few articles on this now. It turns out that a significant amount of ‘Japanese’ whisky is actually imported and just bottled in Japan. 

https://www.vice.com/en/article/xgznpn/japan-whisky-labeling-rules
 

What does everyone think of this? The Japanese whisky market certainly has sky-rocketed over the last few years now, would we all still be happy to pay the premium placed on bottles if we knew it was actually distilled elsewhere? 

[JohnS]

Great article @David88, thanks!

Frankly, this practice is just plain wrong and I'm glad it's being sorted out.

[SirVantes]

Scattered thoughts:

• the (lack of) rules for what can be called "Japanese whisky" has always been a bugbear to enthusiasts, and it was a case of buyer beware + do your research + trust your tastebuds (not the market)
• these new "rules" do not have the force of law (in contrast to Scotch, for instance).  They are promulgated by the Japan Spirits & Liquer Makers Association, and not every distillery is a member.  There is no official statement about sanctions if a member breaks the rules, and crucially the Japanese tax code definition remains unchanged.  
• Will it work?  Well, a certain distillery beginning with N has already responded by declaring which of their very popular whiskies do not qualify under the rules.  But I suspect it's down to their confidence that nothing will change for the average punter following the declaration.  I'd also selfishly rather the general public not know that N From the Barrel "may" contain Ben Nevis, which N owns, given how sought after Ben Nevis is as a single malt. 
• The rules also ban the using of misleading labelling that evoke Japan - so no more kanji, Noh masks or samurai...unless you are a foreign bottler and we will still see Taiwanese, Belgian and other independent bottlers having those kinds of labels even when it is clearly Scotch.

[Ryan]

2 hours ago, SirVantes said:

Scattered thoughts:

• the (lack of) rules for what can be called "Japanese whisky" has always been a bugbear to enthusiasts, and it was a case of buyer beware + do your research + trust your tastebuds (not the market)
• these new "rules" do not have the force of law (in contrast to Scotch, for instance).  They are promulgated by the Japan Spirits & Liquer Makers Association, and not every distillery is a member.  There is no official statement about sanctions if a member breaks the rules, and crucially the Japanese tax code definition remains unchanged.  
• Will it work?  Well, a certain distillery beginning with N has already responded by declaring which of their very popular whiskies do not qualify under the rules.  But I suspect it's down to their confidence that nothing will change for the average punter following the declaration.  I'd also selfishly rather the general public not know that N From the Barrel "may" contain Ben Nevis, which N owns, given how sought after Ben Nevis is as a single malt. 
• The rules also ban the using of misleading labelling that evoke Japan - so no more kanji, Noh masks or samurai...unless you are a foreign bottler and we will still see Taiwanese, Belgian and other independent bottlers having those kinds of labels even when it is clearly Scotch.

When I heard of the new guidelines I bought up a few bottles of N from the Barrel, thinking that the blend would go away. It's very good at the price. I thought N have declared that they would abide by the new rules and thus it would go extinct?

[SirVantes]

16 minutes ago, Ryan said:

When I heard of the new guidelines I bought up a few bottles of N from the Barrel, thinking that the blend would go away. It's very good at the price. I thought N have declared that they would abide by the new rules and thus it would go extinct?

Thankfully, nothing so drastic. The distillers can bottle exactly as they have done, only they can’t label it as Japanese whisky anymore. Word is that N from the Barrel, N Black, N Red etc will just drop all the offending labelling, and that’s it. There’s also talk that the Association will publish a comprehensive list, and mark a product  like N from the Barrel as “contains foreign source liquor”. Good enough, I suppose. 

[LLC]

I think all the known Japanese companies will comply. That is just the way they're wired.


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