In a completely unseen development, not a single Scotch made it to the top lists of whiskeys in the world this year - and the top one spot went to a Japanese whiskey!
As lovers of Scotland's top liquor know, there is such a thing as a World Whiskey Bible, which is a book with a 12-year history, and that list is updated annually to show the world what are currently the best whiskeys in the world. According to The Telegraph, now, for the first time ever, Scotch was nowhere to be seen in the list - and the top spot went to a Japanese whiskey!
The name of the Japanese whiskey that has now taken over the spot for the best in the world is Yamazaki Single Malt Sherry Cask 2013, a liquor that comes from the Asian country's oldest malt whiskey distillery, Yamazaki, which was created in the 1920s.
Only 18,000 bottles were made of this virtuoso Japanese whiskey. It is aged in Oloroso sherry butts from 12 to 15 years, and it beat a few other competitors such as America bourbon William Larue Weller and Sazerac Rye 18 Year Old.
The creator of the Whiskey Bible, Jim Murray, has said that while this doesn't mean that Scotch whiskey is lowering its quality, there are changes that must indeed be made. He called the fact that a Japanese whiskey beat Scotland a "wake-up call" for whiskey-makers in the British region.
As the UK's Daily Mail reports, it wasn't only the fact that there were no Scottish whiskeys in the top 5 - but, also, it seems that English whiskeys are actually doing better in the list than Scotch.
Murray spent months traveling around the world testing different kinds of whiskeys in different countries, and he is often considered one of the world's leading authorities on the matter.
While different brands of Scotch whiskey have taken the top spots in the past, he's called out the Scottish industry after witnessing many truly great liquors across the world, such as the awarded Japanese whiskey.
