I cannot wholeheartedly celebrate the recent whisky boom.
While I’m pleased that Japanese whisky is receiving recognition worldwide, I feel a strong sense of concern about what’s happening behind the scenes—speculative trading in markets like China and Taiwan, in other words, the fact that “whisky has become an investment target.”
Japanese whisky has grown to become one of the “world’s five great whiskies” alongside Scotch, Irish, American, and Canadian whiskies.
It took more than half a century of effort and trial and error to reach this point.
However, now its history and quality are being consumed under the name of “asset value.”
Whisky should originally be enjoyed as a luxury consumable—something to be savored over time while enjoying the changes that come with aging.
But today’s boom is clearly different.
