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Sale
Spirits
700ml
Bottle: $58.27 $61.34
12 bottles: $28.50
Sale
Spirits
750ml
Bottle: $39.92 $41.10
12 bottles: $37.91
12 FREE
Sale
Spirits
700ml
Bottle: $42.18 $44.40
12 bottles: $39.90
Showing a nose combining earthy aromas of barley cake, toasted walnut, and campfire smoke with more fruit driven...
12 FREE
UBC
89
Sale
Spirits
750ml
Bottle: $32.36 $34.80
12 bottles: $30.78
Number 19 in the 2020 Top 20. This new, higher proof Iwai (pronounced EE-why) was designed for cocktails; however,...
WKY
91
Sale
Spirits
750ml
Bottle: $47.43 $51.00
12 bottles: $43.32
This carmine dram has a soft, mellow nose of raisin, earthy red wine notes, wet slate, prune flesh, stewed rhubarb,...
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WKY
88
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Rapid Ship
Spirits
750ml
Bottle: $249.94 $349.94
Showing an attractive straw-gold color, this mature whisky has bright flavors of baked cereal grains, toasted vanilla...
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UBC
92
Sale
Spirits
700ml
Bottle: $78.66 $82.80
Kurayoshi Distillery lies between Osaka and Hiroshima in the foothills of Mount Daisen, where it produces single malt...
12 FREE
WKY
92
UBC
90
Sale
Rapid Ship
Spirits
750ml
Bottle: $87.93 $90.59
Takamine Koji Whiskey is made with the patented Takamine Process, which uses an ancient Japanese mold, koji, to...
12 FREE
Sale
Spirits
750ml
Bottle: $40.18 $43.20
12 bottles: $38.76
The nose is slightly fruity with hints of lemon, cherry, toffee, oats and sea air. The palate is perfectly clean &...
Sale
Spirits
750ml
Bottle: $98.89 $102.00
6 bottles: $98.40
Salted caramel, yellow apple, brown sugar, angelica fruits, mild peat.
12 FREE

Gamay Japanese Whiskey Mencia NV

The French wines of Beaujolais are widely regarded as some of the finest table wines in the world. This is due in part to the qualities of the Gamay grape, from which they are made. Gamay produces beautifully, juicy, rounded and gulpable red wines, usually drank young and full of their natural fruit character. However, it would be a mistake to say that Gamay is limited to easy-drinking, soft wines - it’s a highly flexible and versatile grape, capable of producing aged wines of serious complexity and structure, full of expression and fascinating characteristics.


The majority of Gamay wines from France are labeled under Beaujolais Villages or Beaujolais, and these are the standard table wines we’re used to seeing in French restaurants, at bistros, and at our local wine store. Usually great value for money, these are the light, slightly acidic examples of what the grape can do. Far more interesting are those Gamay wines from the 10 cru villages, just north of Beaujolais, where generations of expertise and a unique soil type made up of granitic schist result in far more unique, complicated wines. The best examples of Gamay feature intense aromatics, all black fruit and forest fare, and are worth cellaring for a few years.

Whisky might not be the first thing that springs to mind when we think of Japanese fine produce, but over the past one hundred years, this fascinating and multi-faceted country has diligently forged a unique whisky identity which is growing in popularity, and which is entirely its own.

The story of Japanese whisky begins in 1918, when Masataka Taketsuru was sent to Scotland to undertake a tour of single malt distilleries in the Highlands, and bring home a knowledge of whisky and distillation skills. He returned full of inspiration, helped no doubt by his new Scottish wife, and alongside his friend, Shinjiro Torii, set up what would become a successful whisky industry.

Today, the Japanese whisky industry is spread over a relatively small handful of distilleries, which continue to use Scottish techniques and recipes, but with a hefty dose of distinctly Japanese experimentalism. This is displayed most obviously in the barrelling techniques the Japanese use - to create a distinctly Oriental set of tasting notes, native Japanese oakwood casks are used for ageing, alongside casks taken from plum wine producers, which impart a beautiful set of floral flavors to the whisky.

While some distilleries produce some excellent single malts, the majority of Japanese whiskies are blended, which reveals a unique set of flavors and aromas ranging from honeysuckle and orange blossom, to toffee and acetone.