The House of Suntory is launching Suntory Whisky Toki in Australia next month. 

A blend of carefully selected whiskies from the House of Suntory’s globally acclaimed Hakushu Distillery, Yamazaki Distillery, and Chita Distillery, it has been crafted by House of Suntory’s fourth Chief Blender, Shinji Fukuyo.

Fukuyo took a fresh approach with Suntory Whisky Toki, selecting the singular Hakushu American white oak cask malt whisky — with its unique freshness, mellowness and spectacular green apple notes — as one of the blend’s two pillars. To complement that selection, Fukuyo chose Chita heavy-type grain whisky as the blend’s second pillar, adding a clean taste with notes of sweetness and vanilla.

By pairing these seemingly dissimilar but deeply accordant whiskies, Fukuyo’s insight overturned the old relationship between malt and grain to create a blend Suntory describes as “both groundbreaking and timeless”.

“Traditionally in Suntory blends, grain whiskies have played merely a supporting role, acting as a broth or dashi to accentuate key malts,” the distiller notes. “But the unrivalled sophistication and wide range of grain whiskies produced at Suntory’s Chita distillery led Shinji Fukuyo to rethink that role. He saw these whiskies, with their exquisite balance of complexity, subtlety and refinement, not as a scaffold for the heroic malt to ascend but as true heroes in their own right.”

The expression can be enjoyed neat, on the rocks, as a highball or mixed as a cocktail.

Suntory Whisky Toki will be distributed in Australia by Coca-Cola Amatil. RRP: $64.99