Where to buy Yamazaki Single Malt Whiskey

Thanks for your nice post to teach us more in this topic.

Ifm heading to Japan soon and want to pick up Yamazaki 12,18 or anything which I can get my hands on. Any tips? Will be in Osaka, Kyoto etc.

Pete,
Shibacho, an established liquor store in Namba, a minute's walk from BIC Camera Namba in Sennichimae Shopping Street, has stocks of Yamazaki 18 / 21 yrs as well as Hibiki, Nikka, etc but the prices are quite high.

BIC Camera also has 8 / 12 / 18 yrs Kurayoshi whisky at very reasonable prices.

Do check it out if you are interested.

Good luck.

I am in Osaka right now for a few days.

Anyone seen some Hibiki 17?

Or other rarer ones?

Hibiki 17.. good luck with that. If you do find it it will be over 17,000 I recon.

Brady,

Read my posting. That Shibacho store has various aged statements whiskies, including Hibiki. It's just a matter of whether you are willing to pay the price.

Anyone have an update of live stock recently for Hibiki 17 700ml?
Ifm in ShinOsaka and going back to tokyo soon and would like to see if therefs one either around those two areas.

Ifve been to Nara and no luck. They are all sold out for anyone whofs interested to know.

Update:

I ended up getting 2x bottles.
1 was from in Osaka and ShinOsaka.

Donft think therefs any left. Pretty much all sold out. Youfll be lucky to find one but expect paying a premium price which I did for one of them.

Looks like nobody read my postings even though I provided detailed information on where those prized Japanese whiskies can be purchased.

Since my contribution is not appreciated I shall stop posting in future.

Thank you.

PrinceL,

Your info is appreciated. Will check it out today.

Jboogy,

Thanks for acknowledging my postings.

Did you manage to find Shibacho Liquor Store in Namba?

Good luck in your hunt for Japanese whiskies.

Regards,

Okay so I've been living in Osaka for a month. I did not have much luck finding good Japanese liquor in the larger stores or in any stores within the city center for that matter. Many of them don't stock it, maybe Yamazaki has a shortage so they are giving priority to bars and smaller shops.

Here is what I have found:

Two blocks west of Juso station across the street from the Tokyo hotel there is a medium sized liquor store with Yamazaki, Hakushu, along with a few other good options. No age statements.

4 blocks north of Tksumoto station there is a small liquor shop at the busy intersection. There is also a police station on the opposite corner. He had a bottle of Nikka 12 year. And a regular bottle of Yamazaki & Hibiki. After I purchased the Yamazaki he restocked it but I have not seen him restock the Nikka 12 year. It's a small shop but good.

If your a high roller and want to buy age statement Whiskey than at Umeda station in the far end of the mall there is a Suntory Whiskey shop and bar. The shop has signs saying they don't sell bottles but inside the bar you can order any bottle you want from 12 year to 25 Yamazaki, Hakushu, Hibiki, etc. You could spend somewhere between $180 (12 year) to $2,600 (25 year)

I think the smaller cities neighborhoods and towns have better selections overall.

i found a small whisky shop in Arashiyama. i hired a bike from the train station and headed up towards saga-toriimoto. as it was a little out of the way there werent that many people around

i lucked out and stopped at a small liquor shop that i glanced at that i noticed with yamazaki and hibiki.

the had:
yamazaki NAS/12 = 4800/ 9800
hibiki harmony/ 17 = 4500/ 12900
hakushu 12 = 9800

grabbed myself a yamazaki 12, hakushu 12 and hibiki 17. couldnt believe my luck

Hi, anyone know where to buy yamazaki 12 in sapporo? Was quoted 20k yen by a friend. Thanks.

20k for yama 12 is rather steep. Is this the new norm??? Ifm often swinging through Japan on business and I am seeing less and less age statements around in the last 10- 12 months for sure. I pop into small and large places and itfs about a 5% hit rate and when I do itfs over retail so it seems retail is not even used. I just get it and pay it because itfs good stuff and thank myself lucky.

PrinceL,

Can you roughly refer some prices at the Shibacho store, e.g. Yamazaki 18, Yamazaki LE, Hakushu 18, Hibiki 17 / 21? A friend of mine will do some whisky hunting in Osaka next week and I would like to know if it makes sense to go there.

Thank you in advance!

I was trying to get hibiki and Yama aged statements last month. I ended up finding a guy called japanesewhiskylover on insta and got what I needed and more. Result all round.

Hi blaster84,

If I remember correctly, the Yama 18 was in the 2+,+++ range, Hibiki 17 in the 18,+++ range. Others I didn't really bother to look at as I was only targeting Yama n Hibiki.

So sorry but the prices didn't register in my memory coz I just took a glance, saw that it wasn't within my price range n left almost immediately as I walked in.

Hope this info helps.

Cheers n Good Luck in your hunt.

Hi everyone, have been lurking this forum for months and would like to share my whiskey
hunting experience in Tokyo.
I was lucky enough to visit the Kansai region last year with the mandatory trip to the Yamazaki distillery near Kyoto. managed to snag a few Yamazakis and Hakushus then so I was more keen on trying to get my hands on aged Nikkas this time around.

Overall a disappointing experience compared to my trip to the Kansai region. Went to pretty much every department store liquor section/BIC camera/Donki in Shinjuku and ginza with nothing to write home about. Most of them have the same Chita, Hakushu NAS, Nikka Coffey Malt/grain and occasionally Nikka 12yo. Even the Yamazaki NAS was hardly ever in stock.

Liquor mountain shinjuku had top shelf stuff available (Hibiki 30yo for \300,000) but none of the popular ones that were within my budget. Stumbled upon a non descript liquor shop on the corner next to aforementioned liquor mountain which had 10yo Yoichi (\19,000) and 10yo Miyagikyo (\17,000). Didnft manage to make time for Yamaya Shinjuku.

Moving on to the ginza area, Yamaya Ginza again had no interesting stuff. Shinanoya has a good variety of Japanese whiskeys Ifve never even seen before- Yamazaki LE for \17,000+, Hakushu 25 for \80,000+, Yamazaki 25 as well as Yoichi 20, Miyagikyo 20, taketsuru 25,30,35? And a few other yoichis with colour coded tasting notes on the label.
Liquors Hasegawa was probably the last beacon of hope for me throughout this trip. Yamazaki 12 for \13,800 (got this for 8500 instead last year in Daimaru Hiroshima), hibiki 17 for \17,000+ which I bought bottle of with plenty still in stock.

Ifll be spending another 1 week and a bit in the Hokkaido region and visiting the Yoichi distillery as a birthday present to myself. Will update this thread then. Hope this info helps and good luck to all you whiskey hunters out there!

Was just in Wakayama. Been looking all over for Yamazaki on this trip. Found a Mom and Pop near the station. Went in and he told me they were sold out of the 12 year. Asked about about the 18 and he suddenly said to wait and ran out of the shop. Came back 5 min later with a bottle of 12yr! Paid 15,000, but itfs been hard to find and maybe thatfs a good price these days.