Suntory

JapanWhisky HouseHighball

Founded1899

Whisky1923 (Yamazaki)

HQOsaka

StyleJapanese whisky house

BrandsYamazaki · Hakushu · Hibiki

GlobalBeam Suntory

The house that started Japanese whisky — from Yamazaki to the Kakubin highball.

Suntory is both the beginning and the biggest company of Japanese whisky. Its founder, Shinjiro Torii, opened the Yamazaki distillery in 1923 and with it the history of Japanese whisky. Yamazaki, Hakushu and the blended Hibiki are all part of the Suntory family.

Here's an idea people often miss: not everything from Suntory is an expensive premium. In Japan, Suntory's real face isn't the well-aged single malt but the highball you find in every restaurant. Bottles like Kakubin and Toki were made from the start to be mixed cold with soda and drunk alongside a meal — everyday whisky.

So match the recommendation to the purpose. Yamazaki and Hibiki are whiskies for a special day, to savour the aroma; Toki and Kakubin are for easily mixing a highball at home. Before you lament not finding the pricey Japanese bottles, consider that highball culture itself may be Suntory's greatest invention.

Flavourofficial / critical

HoneyMizunara (sandalwood)FloralGreen fruitLight smokeBalance

Glossaryfor beginners

Whisky houseNot one product but a group spanning several distilleries and brands. Suntory owns the Yamazaki and Hakushu distilleries.

MizunaraJapanese oak casks that lend an Eastern aroma of sandalwood and incense — the signature of Japanese whisky.

HighballWhisky lengthened cold with soda water. Suntory made it mainstream through Kakubin.

KakubinSuntory's national blend, launched 1937. The 'square bottle' at the centre of Japan's highball culture.

Range & Collections

KakubinThe square-bottle national blend. The base of the highball, drunk everywhere in Japan.

TokiA light, export-focused blend built for the highball.

HibikiSuntory's premium blend — the flagship behind heavy gifting and keeping demand.

HakushuThe single malt of the forest distillery; light smoke and green fruit.

YamazakiThe single malt of the first distillery where Japanese whisky began; the mizunara aroma.

Value by AgeData-based2026.6 as of

KakubinHighball · daily~£25

TokiExport blend~£35

Hibiki HarmonyPremium blend~£100+

★ Yamazaki 55yoJapanese whisky auction record · 2020, BonhamsHK$6.2M

Yamazaki 55 — just 100 bottles — sold for HK$6.2 million at Bonhams Hong Kong in 2020, a record for Japanese whisky at auction. Suntory's real range runs from that summit down to the Kakubin highball: one group holding both the everyday pour and the collector's peak. In 2014 it bought America's Beam (Jim Beam, Maker's Mark) to become Beam Suntory, one of the world's three largest drinks groups.

Prices are approximate retail / duty-free · Auction — Bonhams (2020) · Not a personal tasting score

How It’s Made

Suntory is not one product but the house of Japanese whisky. One group makes Yamazaki (malt), Hakushu (the forest malt) and the blends that marry them with grain (Hibiki, Toki, Kakubin). Layering an Eastern aroma from Japanese mizunara oak, and growing a soft balance alongside a highball culture, is the Suntory identity.

The start of Japanese whiskyIn 1923 founder Shinjiro Torii built Japan's first malt distillery at Yamazaki, near Kyoto.

Yatte minahareTorii's creed — 'you never know until you try' — drove the gamble of making a Western spirit by Japanese hands.

A nation of highballsLaunching Kakubin in 1937 and pushing the highball, it made whisky an everyday table drink.

Beam SuntoryIts 2014 purchase of America's Beam, for around $16 billion, added Jim Beam and Maker's Mark and made it one of the three largest drinks groups.

History

In 1899 Shinjiro Torii opened Kotobukiya (later Suntory) in Osaka, and in 1923 built Japan's first malt distillery at Yamazaki to begin making whisky. Kakubin won over Japanese palates in 1937 and grew the highball; in 2014 the purchase of America's Beam lifted it into the global Beam Suntory group.

How It’s Drunk

Suntory sits at the heart of the global Japanese-whisky boom. Hibiki and Yamazaki carry heavy gift and collector demand amid scarcity, with list prices hard to find in the US and UK, while Toki and the highball serve give bars an everyday way in. It holds two faces at once — balance and delicacy, and the easy pleasure of a cold highball.

◆The Right GlassSignature

Kakubin and Toki are in their element as the highball Suntory spread — a tall glass packed with ice, lengthened cold with soda. By contrast, lines made to be nosed — Hibiki, Yamazaki, Hakushu — are better neat in a Glencairn or copita. Within one house, the glass decides how you drink.

→ The science of the highball → Copita vs Glencairn