First made known to American audiences thanks to Bill Murray’s character in the 2003 film Lost in Translation, Suntory Whiskey is finally paying the price of their popularity stateside.
The storied whiskey maker is being forced to discontinue two of their most popular brands – Hakushu 12-year and Hibiki 17-year- due to the fact that producers simply cannot keep up. For industry insiders it comes as no surprise, since when it comes to products that take literal decades to produce, a huge spike in demand isn’t exactly something that can be quickly responded to.
For their part, Suntory has said that they are investing heavily in their production to help catch up with the market, the only problem is that we might not see those two factors align for many years. So if you happen to have some spare cash sitting around and want to make an investment, you might want to hit your local liquor store and grab every bottle of these two vintages that you can.
