Japanese Whisky

Like Scotch, Japanese whisky relies heavily on malted barley (often peated and even imported from Scotland) that’s mashed and distilled twice in pot stills, yielding more residual congeners (which it’s up to the distiller to incorporate, or cut, skillfully). Other (column-distilled) grain whiskies may be blended in if it’s a single malt. And, like Scotch, Japanese whisky is wood-aged, sometimes in American oak, sometimes in Sherry casks, and sometimes in Japanese Mizunara oak, which imparts unique characteristics (think citrus, spice, incense).