Chita Sakura Cask Finish Blend & Yamazaki Golden Promise 2 x 50cl / The Essence of Suntory

The Chita grain distillery was opened in 1972, and was Suntory’s second distillery. Previously its malt and grain had been produced at Yamazaki, but Chita was tasked with sole responsibility for the latter during the company’s expansions that decade, which saw its second malt distillery, Hakushu, opened the following year. Although it is primarily tasked with the provision of Suntory blends, The Chita single grain brand was launched in 2015.

Suntory’s flagship distillery, Yamazaki was founded by Shinjiro Torii in 1923. The town of Yamazaki was chosen to be the site of Japan’s first commercial distillery due to its very ‘Scottish’ climate, and with it being an area where three rivers converge. In its early days, Yamazaki produced both malt and grain for Suntory's blends, but the opening of the Chita distillery in 1972 allowed the company to focus on its single malt brand. It is now one of the world's most desirable. The first spirit ran from the stills in 1924, on 11th November at 11:11am

The Chita Sakura Cask Finish Blend is a 2020 addition to The Essence of Suntory Whisky series. A blend of 2000 vintage "clean type" Chita single grain, it has been finished in Sakura wood casks for its final three years. The previous fifteen were in white oak.50%

The 2009 Yamazaki Golden Promise single malt has been made using Golden Promise barley which was made famous by the likes of Macallan and Karuizawa. It has been aged for 11 years in ex-American oak casks and bottled in 2021. 53%

It was bottled as part of the Essence of Suntory series.