Suntory did not just make Japanese whisky; it invented the entire category. When it built the Yamazaki distillery near Kyoto in 1923, there was no such thing as Japanese whisky. A century later, Suntory's bottles sit among the most coveted in the world. This is a full guide to Suntory and the range we stock at House of Decant.

The company was founded by Shinjiro Torii, a relentless entrepreneur whose motto, roughly, was go for it. He hired the young chemist Masataka Taketsuru, fresh from his Scottish apprenticeship, and together they built Yamazaki, Japan's first malt distillery. Taketsuru later left to found Nikka, and the two houses have defined Japanese whisky between them ever since.

Three Distilleries, One Philosophy

Suntory malt comes from two very different places. Yamazaki, on the wooded outskirts of Kyoto where three rivers meet, gives a rich, fruity, faintly incense-like whisky. Hakushu, high in the forests of the Japanese Alps, is greener, fresher and gently smoky, whisky that tastes of a cool morning among the trees. The house then draws on both, plus grain whisky from its Chita distillery, to build the Hibiki blends. The guiding idea throughout is harmony: balance prized above power, subtlety above statement.

The Range We Stock

Toki is the bright, versatile blend built for the highball, all green apple, citrus and a whisper of vanilla. Hibiki Harmony is a step up in richness and grace, honeyed and refined, one of the most gracious blended whiskies in the world. In single malt, the Hakushu 12 is fresh, herbal and lightly smoky, while the Yamazaki 12 is its richer, fruitier counterpart, and the rare Yamazaki 18 is the house at its most profound, all dried fruit, sherry and sandalwood.

How to Drink It

The highball is the national serve and the best way in: whisky over plenty of hard ice, topped with cold soda in a tall glass, long and bright and made for food. Toki and Hakushu are superb this way. The older single malts, though, deserve a moment neat or with a single drop of water, at the end of an evening. It is worth knowing that global demand has long outstripped supply, which is why age statements come and go and prices climb; a fairly priced bottle is one to enjoy now.

Suntory shares the story of Japanese whisky with one great rival. Read our profile of Nikka, and for the wider category, our guide to the best Japanese whisky.

A century after Shinjiro Torii bet everything on a whisky nobody in Japan had asked for, Suntory stands among the most respected names in the spirit anywhere. It got there not by copying Scotland but by perfecting a quieter, more precise idea of what whisky could be, and the world has been catching up ever since.