Some Japanese whisky is made from rice or corn sometimes it can be a blend of malted barley, rice, and/or corn, depending on the preference of the distillery. This can lend a smoky taste with a lighter flavor profile. Japanese whisky is made from malted barley, which can be peated, borrowing some techniques used in Scottish whisky. That latter, Mizunara, is native to Japan and, therefore, can contribute to the flavor of Japanese whisky, too. Other times they have been aged in Mizunara oak, which imparts something of a sandalwood flavor. Some of them have had bourbon, or at times, they use sherry casks. Most Japanese whiskies are aged in wood casks. It ranges from a pale gold, almost straw-like color, to a rich amber. Japanese whisky can be lighter in color, typically, than other whiskeys you may have encountered before, such as Scotch whisky. For a good bet under $50, try the Mars Shinshu Iwai Japanese Whisky. If you can snag a bottle, you won’t be disappointed. It’s aged in a combination of cask types, resulting in a fruity, spicy, and oaky single malt whisky that is best sipped on its own. Ours wants to spend $15 to $20 on a bottle, so we back pedal into that.įind Cathy Huyghe online at, on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.Yamazaki 12-Year-Old Single Malt Japanese Whisky isn’t exactly a cheap bottle of Japanese whisky, but it’s arguably the best. We need to know our customers, and know what they want to spend. We want to be able to sell something with context.įirst and foremost need to be able to sell product. By 'great story,' I don’t mean it’s the new It Winemaker, I mean there needs to be a history and pedigree. I like if it has some sort of a story, because it’ll be easier to sell. What is your objective for the buying trips? I'm still dipping my feet into many regions that I really love. There are so many regions I want to visit, and there's never a reason not to visit. I read a lot, and decide what's interesting and worth pursuing. How do you decide which region to focus on? Shows that are too social lose my attention, because I actually want to get some work done. We normally have until July to get all the ducks in order to buy something for that year, because in Europe everyone is gone in August and then it's time for harvest, so it's a tight squeeze. Timing is important: some shows are too late in the year to find something to promote. I go to a lot of trade shows, where I can see a lot of people at one time. I travel, a lot, especially this year. There's not a lot of getting in a car and visiting wineries individually. We choose a region and promote it for a year, so I’ll travel there ahead of time. Mine is definitely more European centric, and that’s naturally what we sell most of, especially French and Italian. It's an educational facility that's separate from the retail space but we clearly feed off each other. We also have a sister company called Astor Center. We do a lot of promotions, which requires a heavy amount of planning, sometimes 6 to 10 months in advance. We need to maintain a competitive edge, because it’s an incredibly competitive market. We keep track of vintages for all those wines, we do the buying, we track inventory of what's selling or not, and we keep track of what everyone else is doing. There’s a lot of paperwork and a lot of time in front of the computer, communicating and disseminating information to sales staff, which is very important because they’re the ones in contact with clients. What other tasks are included in the job? I have three assistants who help me, one helps me taste, another is more administrative, and another focuses more on spirits. We carry about 3000 different wines and 1500 spirits, and I oversee all the purchases. I became the head buyer less than five years after that. The same job was open again at Astor, and I returned to it less than a week before September 11. Having that “full circle” experience of wine is very important. Had it been a pristine vintage, I wouldn’t have learned nearly as much. I worked the 2000 harvest in Germany, which was an awful vintage.

I had an opportunity to go with my husband to Europe, who was doing research for his PhD in Berlin. How did you gain practical experience in wine?

Astor wines and spirits