(Image Source: Suntory, Android World)

Right at the height of the Japanese whisky boom and subsequent shortage a couple of years ago, Suntory moved into other means of filling the insatiable void that was the world's thirst for Japanese whiskies with a world blended whisky, the Ao.

The Ao is world blended because is contains whisky sourced from all the major whisky producing countries and subsequently blended and bottled by Suntory. It's a feature that's quite popular with Japanese distilleries, many of whom have their own version of a world whisky blend.

Of course, quite a number of years have passed and it's probably safe to say that Suntory has managed to replenish some of their aged whisky stocks.

Yet, the Ao has remained.

Suntory is now releasing a limited edition version of the Suntory Ao, labelled "Smoky Pleasure".

As with the core Ao expression, this too contains whiskies sourced from the world's five major whisky producing regions - Scotland, USA, Canada, Ireland and Japan. The focus here is on the use of smoky peated whiskies, combining "smoky" whiskies from all over the world, to convey the charm of deep whisky more widely.

It is priced at 5,000 JPY and bottled at 43% ABV, and will be released across Japan on 7th June, 2022.

Kanpai!

@111hotpot