Controlled Alcoholism

Hibiki 17

I made it pretty clear that the Hibiki Lineup by Suntory always holds a special place in my heart as I consider it to be my gateway into the wide world of whisky appreciation. As such, I would always have a set of Hibiki's on my shelf, squirreled away. However, due to the immense demand from Japanese Whiskies these few years (could be a topic for another article), I purchased those bottles at a pretty significant markup. Thus, even though I have the bottles and whisky, I could never really bear to open up the bottles and drink it. Thus, whenever I could realistically purchase a sip of this, I would not hesitate to jump on the opportunity to do so.

My Hibiki top shelf, amongst a few other whiskies

One such chance appeared the other day, where a Carousell seller was putting his Hibiki 17 and 21 up for sale in drams. I immediately contacted him and placed an order for 50ml drams of each. The latter would be an article for another day. The former, however, I did not purchase to drink. Instead, I purchased it to refill my old Hibiki 17 miniature, and drink what remaining whisky that's still in the bottle.

The miniature bottle in discussion

The miniature bottle in question holds a particular sentimental value to me, beyond the Hibiki lineup. See, I purchased this miniature back in Japan last June, when I was only a few months into the hobby. I immediately broke the seal and tried the whisky when I got back into Singapore. With my inexperience, I didn't really recognize the immense value behind the bottle until I was almost finished with the bottle. I then sealed the ~5ml of whisky left inside the bottle for the next few months. So, this bottle highlights both my roots in whisky appreciation, as well as my inexperience. All I really remembered of this whisky was that I really enjoyed it thoroughly. But alas, one must not judge the quality of whisky by its market price, nor must one judge it with the rose-tinted lenses of memories.

On the nose, it smells sweet, but not the sherry sweetness like the Glendronach 15 I had previously. Rather, it's kind of a floral sweetness, kind of what one might experience walking through a park in the morning. The smell is very light, without much of both off and overwhelming flavours.

On the mouth, the floral flavours exploded in my mouth, which was very unexpected considering that I took a smaller than average sip. The floral sweetness melds harmoniously in my mouth, making it a very smooth drinker. Age smooths out the rough edges of the blend.

Doing an impromptu comparison with the Hibiki's Blender's Choice, the sweetness of the 17 appeared to be much more mellow, much less punchy due to its age. It's as though they are 2 different whiskies altogether despite them coming from the same product line.

The finish is also comparable in this way. The 17's finish is lighter sweetness while the Blender's Choice's finish it much more punchy, characteristic of it's youth.

However, objectively speaking, I must conclude saying that this is a whisky with little flaws. Yet, on the flip side, it also doesn't have many defining characteristics beyond its harmony. Other whiskies such as the Laphroaig take a flavour profile and invests heavily into it. This carves out a flavour niche for them, which cements their place in the whisky world. Nonetheless, the Hibiki will always have a special place in my heart as the one that took my first in whisky. I could not bear to finish what little whisky I had left after that sip, so it went into my infinity bottle where it can be forever (sorry I'm a bit sentimental).

Written on Monday, 11 May 2020.