On 18 June 2022, Friends With Drams had the pleasure of partnering with Ovenbird, a lovely family-owned Japanese restaurant run by self-taught chef Jeffrey Yeo, to organise an all-Japanese whisky tasting. What's more, we were joined by Japanese whisky bottler and collector Hideo Yamaoka.

There was magic in the air, along with the sweet scent of whisky and grilled fish. Yamaoka-san led the lucky guests through the tasting of 7 whiskies from across Japan.

Chef Jeffrey personally sampled the whiskies served that night in order to curate his menu. The food and whiskies paired perfectly, with the dishes increasing in richness to keep up with the whiskies’ complexity and strength. His pièce de résistance was invoking memories of a night out drinking in Japan by serving a decadent curry rice towards the end of the meal.

It was a fantastic evening, and allowed many a guest to remark how it felt like we could throw off the shackles of COVID-19, and share a drink with close friends again. Please enjoy the photos!

Tasting sequence:

1. Essence of Suntory Blended Japanese Whisky Clean type (bottled 2019) abv 48%
2. Kanosuke Cask #20081 “Ghost 20” abv 58%
3. Mars Tsunuki Cask #T431 “Ghost #19” abv 61%
4. Mars Komagatake for Bar Fishborn single cask abv 62%
5. Ichiro's Malt bottled for Whisky Talk 2020 #2850 7Y abv 62.9%
6. Akashi Heavily Peated "Ghost #18" abv 62%
7. Single Malt Nagahama Handcraft whisky (for cask owner) abv 58.2%