Togouchi 15 Year Old

This elegant dram is the oldest and best Togouchi Whisky yet.

Chugoku Jozo was started in 1918 as a distributor of Sake and traditional Japanese liquors. They specialized in all the stuff that happens after distillation, meaning that they purchased raw, young spirit from distillers and then mixed, aged, bottled, and distributed it for themselves. By 1963 they were ready to start brewing their own Sake and released the first finished, aged product in 1967. Today they curate, produce, age, and package a variety of Sakes, Wines, and Whiskies under several brands, including Togouchi.

The Whisky-makers are Chugoku have obviously been holding something back. All Togouchi Whiskies are a blend of Scottish Single Malt and grain spirit from Canada — usually in a 60/40 ratio. They started with a youthful NAS, then they released the nine-year, then a twelve. Obviously, they have been letting older barrels continue to age underground (literally) to continue the line. Now we have Togouchi 15 Year Old, and the extra time has yielded something complex, delicate, and delicious here. It’s bottled at a solid 43.8% ABV.

Smartass corner
The Togouchi line of Whiskies gets its name from the town in which it is aged — or more specifically in this case, the unused train station tunnel that has been repurposed into a Whisky aging warehouse.