HIBIKI 17Y ~ JAPAN

86/100 Whiskybase

A world renowned Japanese blend, Hibiki 17 Year Old is made with aged malt and grain whiskies from Suntory's distilleries. Initially released in 1989, the blend is matured in Japanese mizunara oak casks at Yamazaki. Hibiki means harmony, which has certainly been achieved in this wonderful and iconic blend.

Nose - Intense floral notes, citrus fruit, burning candle wax, possibly some honey

Taste - Light pepper, then floral notes, cloves, sweet vanilla, "yellow" fruits and maybe a little orange

Finish - Medium-long, cocoa-bitter finish with light citrus notes

Hibiki whisky was launched in 1989, in order to commemorate Suntory’s 90th anniversary. The Hibiki line is not only Japan’s most highly awarded blended whisky, but it has been recognised internationally numerous times with countless awards and stands tall as a proud bastion of Japanese whisky-making prowess. Rather beautifully, ‘hibiki’ means resonance in Japanese, and this speaks to the artistic sensibility of the product. Hibiki was born in the form of a blend that was the result of sampling and tasting aged malt whiskies from one million casks at Suntory.

The current incarnations are made from a blend of more than 30 individual malt and mellow grain whiskies, and the final blend is topped off with a whisky aged more than 30 years. This concludes a process that sees the master blender taste over 300 malt whisky samples a day. From its inception to its current forms, Hibiki’s craft and method reflects its core ideologies of harmony and resonance with a caring and precise vision.