Hibiki

Hibiki was created in 1989 to mark Suntory's ninetieth year, and its name means resonance. It is a blend rather than the product of a single distillery, and that is the point of it: malt from Yamazaki and Hakushu and grain from Chita, three distilleries of its own. Maturation runs across mizunara, Spanish and American oak, and the house builds the blend around the idea of harmony.

By Suntory's own account Hibiki has won more awards than any other Japanese blend, and demand for it has long outrun the aged stock behind it.

The landmark releases sit at the top of that stock. Hibiki 40 Years Old, released in October 2024 at an RRP of £33,150, is the oldest blended whisky Suntory has ever bottled — every component more than forty years old, the washi label on its case made by Eriko Horiki and the case itself built from twelve Japanese woods with twelve faces for the twelve months. The year before, the house marked a hundred years of Japanese whisky-making with a Hibiki Harmony and a 21 Year Old Mizunara.