This Bar Is a Japanese Whisky Fan's Dream

""Everybody talks about the meticulous, ceremonious, detail-oriented nature in which Japanese whiskies are created," says Evans."

""There are certain umami flavor profiles that you see more in whiskies from Japan than anywhere else in the world," he says."

""It became an obsessive snowball effect. One producer leads to another," he says."

""There are several single-cask expressions that some of these smaller, more artisanal producers are putting forth. They're releasing only a few bottles a year, so you kind of have this Pokémon mindset. You've gotta catch 'em all.'""

Teruko, located in the basement of New York's Hotel Chelsea, houses 365 bottles of whisky from Japan, the largest such collection in North America. Brian Evans, director of the hotel's bars, curates a stock that includes major producers like Suntory, Nikka, Chichibu and Mars alongside rarer expressions from smaller or closed distilleries. Japanese whiskies emphasize careful blending of old and new or lightly and heavily peated malts, aging in indigenous woods such as sakura and mizunara oak, and pronounced umami flavor profiles that pair well with umami-rich Japanese dishes. The collection grew through targeted research and pursuit of limited single-cask releases.

Read at PUNCH