My Sayonara to Hibiki 17 — or, Why Japan is Losing All Its Whiskey
As with most things in my life, that night was entirely my wife’s fault.
“Jay-jay!” she exclaimed while reading the paper one day. “Hibiki 17 is disappearing!”
Sure enough, it was the Alcoholic News of the Day in Japan. Suntory had announced that it would be pausing sales of both Hakushuu 12 year and Hibiki 17 year.
Link (JP): Suntory’s “Hakushuu 12 Year”, “Hibiki 17 Year” Sales to Pause; Popularity of Highballs Leads to Widespread Shortage of Unblended Whiskey; Restart Date TBD
As of this writing, the death knell has already sounded for Hakushuu 12, sales of which ceased in June. Hibiki 17 will officially go out of circulation in September. The shortage doesn’t seem to be affecting just these premium brands, however — it also seems to be having a knock-on effect on other lines in the brand. Plain, run-of-the-mill Hibiki is retailing for close to 10,000 yen a bottle (around $100), and its sale at airport duty-free shops in Japan is limited to one bottle per customer.
The reason for the shortage is simple: Suntory didn’t anticipate how popular its product would get, and didn’t start producing enough a decade and a half ago to meet current demand. The pressure has come on two fronts — both domestic and international.
Domestically, Japan has been in the middle of a whiskey boom for a while. Alcohol cut with soda is generally referred to as 酎ハイ (chuuhai), as it originally referred to the cutting of 焼酎 (shouchuu), a genre of rice or vegetable-based liquors. However, shouchuu isn’t very popular among young Japanese. More than that, alcohol consumption among the young in Japan is down in general, with many people still in a “post-bubble”, economizing mindset. To combat this trend, Japanese alcohol producers have been looking for every angle they can exploit to get people drinking again. According to Nikkei Trendy, in 2008, Suntory used the combo of the actress Koyuki and the comedy duo Ogiyahagi to sell a refreshing drink consisting of a tall glass of soda and a shot or so of its cheapest whiskey. (Watch one of the commercials here.) The drink, a “Kaku highball”, had been around for many years, but was mainly a staple of the geezer set. Suntory thought it could turn that around. Turns out they were right.
Link (JP): “When Did Young People Start Drinking Highballs? Affirmative Proof of the Boom’s Backstory!”
これまでウイスキーは50～60代が家で飲むために購入することが多かった。サントリーは、30代を中心とする若い層にもファンを増やすため、居酒屋や立ち飲み屋、バーなど外食産業での接点に着目。「角瓶」で作ったハイボール、「角ハイボール」を取り扱う飲食店数を昨年までの数千店から2万8000店まで増やし、年内の目標だった2万5000店を既に上回った。
Up until this point, whiskey was mainly bought for drinking by people in their 50s and 60s. In order to increase the number of fans in their 30s, Suntory set its sights on izakaya, standing drinking houses, bars, and other food service industry establishments. The number of establishments selling “Kaku highballs”, made with Suntory’s “Kakubin” whiskey, rose last year [2008] from a few thousand stores up to around 28,000, already surpassing the company’s goal of 25,000 stores within the year.
Nikkei explains that the highball hits many sweet spots with young drinkers. Its light taste appeals to young women, and the fact that it’s low calorie (a shot of whiskey taps out at around 70 calories) allows people who are watching their waistlines a chance to have a little fun without busting their diets. (You can sweeten the drink naturally with a little lemon, or change it up and drink a ginger or cola highball if you want a sugar rush.) It’s also a low-cost drink, which appeals to Japanese consumers looking for cheap eats after a long night at the office. Finally, the low alcohol content (only about 8–10%) combined with the lack of sweeteners makes it easy to drink along with one’s meals, and is a tasty complement to fried foods.
Suntory’s first marketing assault was ten years ago, and the boom has only gotten…well, boomier. Several years ago, NHK’s popular morning drama series aired Massan, a tale of a young man who inherits his father’s whiskey business. The story, based loosely on Japan’s Nikka distillery, sparked an even greater interest in whiskey, and, as a byproduct, helped further fuel the popularity of highballs as a go-to drink. It’s hard to go into a restaurant in Japan any more and not find some variation of highballs on the menu. You can easily buy canned highballs from every supermarket and convenience store in the country. Even American brands Jim Beam and Jack Daniels have gotten into the action.
Now, no one (expect perhaps crazy people) is putting Hibiki 17 in a tall glass of soda water. You can, however, easily get a highball made with regular Hibiki — and let me tell you, it is delicious as all fuck.
But the general demand and newfound appreciation of Japanese whiskey has boosted sales for Japanese whiskey across the board. Additionally, the higher end Japanese products have found as much success abroad as they have at home. Internationally, Japanese whiskey is now the country’s number two alcohol export, running very close to “sake” (nihonshu 日本酒, or Japanese rice wine), and surpassing export of domestic beers such as Asahi and Sapporo. 2017 saw a nearly 25% rise in international sales, with the number of bottles exported increasing by 32%.
Link (JP): Japanese Whiskey Intoxicates the World: Domestically Produced Exports Reach Their Peak, as Popularity Also Climbs at Home
In short, both Japan and the world at large are drinking the country out of one of its national treasures, one delicious bottle at a time.
Posted from my blog with SteemPress : https://selfscroll.com/my-sayonara-to-hibiki-17-or-why-japan-is-losing-all-its-whiskey/
This user is on the @buildawhale blacklist for one or more of the following reasons: