I magine the scene, some 20 years ago, when a fresh-faced, enthusiastic salesperson walked through the doors of one of Glasgow’s most revered Scotch whisky bars. In their hands, a case of Japanese whisky: a spirit already popular in its domestic market, but one which had next to no profile in the UK. To the surprised bar owner it must have seemed like the whisky equivalent of bringing coals to Newcastle or selling ice to Eskimos. Today, however, after two decades of awards and glowing opinions from whisky drinkers and the spirits industry alike, Japanese whisky is a spirit at the very top of the tree in terms of perceived quality and consumer demand.
The huge fascination with Japanese whisky has, to an extent, led to a growing interest in other Asian-distilled spirits, too. Many do not have a western equivalent and
