{"id":17222,"date":"2016-08-05T11:09:57","date_gmt":"2016-08-05T01:09:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures?p=17222&preview_id=17222"},"modified":"2025-03-27T03:58:15","modified_gmt":"2025-03-26T16:58:15","slug":"why-japan-does-whisky-bars-better-than-anyone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/why-japan-does-whisky-bars-better-than-anyone\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Japan does whisky bars better than anyone"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cLet\u2019s get a drink,\u201d my friend says.<\/p>\n

\u201cSure,\u201d I say. \u201cWhere?\u201d<\/p>\n

We\u2019re in Kyoto\u2019s Gion district, and the Geisha Hour is about to begin. It\u2019s the time of night when green-robed figures emerge from doorways and flit through the alleys of Ponto-ch\u014d like spirits from a Miyazaki movie. I can see packs of tourists prowling the streets, hoping for a glimpse, but the Geishas move notoriously fast. Seeing one sends a little shiver up your neck. Like spotting a pale fawn in a dark forest.<\/p>\n

\"Japan-whisky---jit-bag\"

Image c\/o jit bag, Flickr<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cHow about over there?\u201d My friend points to a Starbucks, which doesn\u2019t fill me with confidence. Then I notice next to it, small and nondescript, a little sign that simply says \u2018BAR\u2019, with an arrow pointing down some stairs. It doesn\u2019t look very promising.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat looks underwhelming. Can\u2019t we find some cool whisky bar?\u201d I say. \u201cI hear they have grand pianos and Bill Murray and stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cLet\u2019s just try it. We can always wander the streets of Gion if it turns out to be lame.\u201d<\/p>\n

We walk down the stairs and the sound of the Starbucks becomes muffled. Left, right, left right. Again a little sign saying \u2018BAR\u2019. An arrow leads the way (the Miyazaki vibes are beginning to build). And suddenly there\u2019s a wooden door; we give it a push. Inside is the distillation of understated Japanese elegance. Dozens of small glass cabinets line the walls, each carefully numbered, housing a collection of the world\u2019s best whiskys. Yamazaki and Glenmorangie, Nikka and Talisker, fresh-faced Japanese amber and peaty Scottish malt, row upon row upon row. In the corner is a piano (check) and behind the bar a bowtied bartender, his well-oiled hair combed to a razor part. The sound of soft jazz oozes out of the walls. A few whisky nerds (they call them otaku<\/em> here) are sitting down the far end, sipping their drinks.<\/p>\n

\"Japan-whisky---sayot\"

Image c\/o sayot, Flickr<\/p><\/div>\n

Japan<\/a> is a country that understands the beauty of a clich\u00e9. I can practically hear Sofia Coppola doing cartwheels in my brain. But experiences like this one aren\u2019t all that unusual in a country that has stamped its mark on the world whisky stage.<\/p>\n

It probably began in 2001, when Nikka\u2019s Yoichi Single Case won Whisky Magazine\u2019s Best of the Best. After that it was the Yamazaki 12-year, which picked up a gold medal in the 2003 International Spirits Challenge. More recently, Yamazaki\u2019s Sherry Cask nabbed top spot in Jim Murray\u2019s definitive 2015 \u2018Whisky Bible\u2019. For those that thought good whisky meant a windswept Scottish moor, a babbling brook and a well-antlered stag sipping a single malt, it marked a turning point \u2013 Scotland had met its match.<\/p>\n

RELATED: CHECK OUT OUR JAPAN GROUP TRIPS<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

The history behind all this is pretty interesting, because way back in the 1920s, it was Scottish whiskey that gave birth to the Japanese scene. Yamazaki founder Masataka Taketsuru was sent to the University of Glasgow to study chemistry (the first Japanese person ever to do so) and returned home in the 20s to create Japan\u2019s first whisky distillery, closely modeled on the Scottish style. It didn\u2019t work. The Japanese palate didn\u2019t warm to the smoky Scotch-like taste, so Taketsuru set about refining it. Creating something new \u2013 smoother and more delicate than its predecessors. Japanese whisky was born (they spell it without the \u2018e\u2019 here). And nearly a hundred years later, the rest of the world is finally taking notice.<\/p>\n

\"Japan-whisky---Chris-Ubik\"

Image c\/o Chris Ubik, Flickr<\/p><\/div>\n

Whether you prefer Japanese whisky over its Scottish, Canadian or Tasmanian rivals doesn\u2019t really matter. Because the more I travelled in Japan the more I realized that only part<\/em> of their whisky culture resides inside<\/em> the glass. It lives in meticulous attention to detail: the frozen orbs of ice, selected for their shape and size, gently warmed by clockwise motions in the palm; the precise pouring action; the barmen in their immaculate attire; the soft lighting and piano music. It\u2019s a very Japanese approach to life in general: if something\u2019s worth doing, it\u2019s worth doing as well it\u2019s possible to do. Watching our barman prepare a simple dram of whisky is like observing an Ikebana flower arrangement, or a bonsai master tending a miniature world. It\u2019s an experience that\u2019s hard to replicate elsewhere. Even if you get the details right, a Japanese whisky bar in New York or Melbourne or London always feels like someone who\u2019s read the music, but never heard it played. I guess you can\u2019t fake authenticity.<\/p>\n

We sit at the bar for the better part of an hour, discussing the merits of different labels and chatting with the bartender, who it turns out is a part-time illustrator. He draws us a few anime<\/em> cartoons on the back of a napkin. A schoolgirl holding a samurai sword. A scaled monster crushing a city under huge, clawed feet.<\/p>\n

Eventually we say goodbye to the whisky den and climb back up to the street and the Starbucks. I look back, half expecting the little sign to have disappeared, but it\u2019s still there. Inconspicuous but there.<\/p>\n

\u201cFood?\u201d I ask.<\/p>\n

\u201cFood,\u201d says my friend.<\/p>\n

We walk on into Gion\u2019s rain-slicked backstreets, the whisky warming us from the inside. At one point I see a flash of green disappearing around the corner, but by the time we catch up, it\u2019s gone.<\/p>\n

Want to get a taste of the real thing? Check out our Japan Real Food Adventure<\/a>.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Feature c\/o Rene Mayorga, Flickr.\u00a0This article originally appeared in Canadian Traveler<\/a>.<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n

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