The Scots were snubbed this year when the top spot in Jim Murray’s Whisky Bible 2015 was given to a Japanese brand. In fact, as Time reports, Scotch didn’t even enter in the book’s top five rankings, which, just last year, gave first place to 19-year-old single malt Scotch, Glenmorangie Ealanta.
Jim Murray called this year’s champ, Yamazaki Single Malt Sherry Cask 2013 from Japan’s Suntory distillery, “indescribable genius.” He describes the flavor as “rich and fruity” with “exquisite boldness” and “light, teasing spice.” Wine and spirit expert Ron Taylor offers an analogy for the luddite (who loves cars): Scotch is like a Maserati (“they’ll knock you around and slap you around the face a little bit”) and Japanese single malts are more akin to a Lexus (“beautifully crafted, no vibration, smooth, consistent and always pleasing”).
Either way, whisky drinkers would do well to pick based on individual taste, rather than rankings/comparisons to automobiles. [Time] [Photo: Flickr/Eli]