Yamazaki is the distillery that started it all is still up and running, and making some of the best Japanese whisky that’ll ever cross your lips. What’s more, the brand continues to experiment with the shapes and sizes of its stills, as well as the types of barrels it uses for maturation. Expect rich texture, palpable complexity, and unmistakable character from every sip of the brand’s top vintages. Our favourite drop is the Yamazaki 25-Year-Old Single Malt, which is aged exclusively in sherry casks and limited to just 12,000 bottles per year. Along similar lines, the Yamazaki 18-Year-Old Single Malt is the stuff of legend, though it too can get outrageously expensive. To hedge your bets, start off with a dram of the award-winning 12-Year (as seen above) it’ll still cost you, but not nearly as much as the $1 Million bottle we tried recently.