New Year's Greeting for 2018

Everyone, Happy New Year! Looking back on last year, memories are mostly filled with the chaos of transfers and moving, followed by an extremely busy workload in my main job, which kept me on the front lines. I can't deny that whisky tasting, my life's work, was put on the back burner. My blog updates also slowed down. However, I was selected as a taster for Whisky Galore, had a dialogue with Katsuhiko Shimachi, and even had my photo taken by Professor Yoshihisa Tachibana. In earnest, after seriously starting to drink whisky about 15 years ago, it felt like my stoic efforts finally took shape and were recognized. There have been several times in my life where, for some reason, various things come together at once to become fulfilling. While it's physically taxing when they all arrive simultaneously, since my transfer, I've been in that state until the end of the year. And since the new year has started, the environment remains the same, so my 'summer of life' seems to continue for a while. In recent years, I've felt that there are more good new releases, but whisky prices have skyrocketed. Moreover, I notice significant differences in pricing standards among manufacturers. Also, there's an increasing tendency for prices to be determined more by the quality of the whisky rather than its specifications. Sometimes, I think a bottle is unusually expensive for its maturation years, but upon tasting, it turns out to be remarkably high quality. Additionally, I feel the gap between sellers who are well-informed about the latest information and buyers' sense of value has become more pronounced. Even I find it difficult to judge whether a bottle is expensive or cheap compared to others, but since I do buy bottles, I want to clearly define my role as a buyer and drinker. For now, the update frequency might remain low, but I intend to continue this blog. Apart from personal preferences, I want to maintain a balanced tasting approach between new and old bottles as a taster, allowing me to more deeply evaluate the essence of each bottle before me. It would be wonderful if I could clearly imagine the future state of new releases or the peak condition of old bottles that have become scarce, when I taste them. Recently, I haven't been able to drink as thoroughly at home, but for this year's New Year's malt, I chose Dalmore 1980, the year of my birth. I recently opened it, and indeed, it's very delicious. Upon drinking it again, rather than the plain type typical of Diageo at release, there's a resinous quality overall, with a rich cask character and original spirit flavor that assert themselves in balance. The natural maturation feel I expected is indeed present. This year, within the range that doesn't affect my main job, I'd like to take time to thoroughly engage with bottles at home. Being naturally greedy, I'll continue to push myself this year too, but I'll try not to collapse halfway and diligently strive without cutting corners to make each day fulfilling. I hope this year brings you all a wonderful year. T. Matsuki