Why not store in those vacuum sealed bags? That would solve the humidity and cork problem...

I am keeping most of it inside the duty free plastic without taking it out. All with receipt inside lol.

my 2 cents based on observations of my dads collection and my own.

Temperature in msia is the biggest killer, our so called from room temp is more like 28-29C indoors, pretty bad for wine and for liquor it accelerates the off gas of the volatile components, older liquor kept like 10 years all lose their 'hiongness' when you finally open it.
Then comes evaporation, over time even sealed, the bottle just slowly evaps out and you can see it slowly getting lower. My dad has bottles from the 80s and some of them are like a quarter gone. Some shops i see try to mitigate this by shrink wrapping the bottles.
I try to keep my own bottles at 22-24C to try and mitigate these.

On the topic of Japanese whisky, pretty much my hobby. Managed to stockpile a whole bunch of Yama/Hibi/Haku. The way i look at it, like LVMH, Suntory won't be reducing the msrp prices, so no point looking back at 2015 prices. Right now i've stopped buying at current MSRP as i think the market has stabilized and i dont think Suntory will be raising them anymore. Pretty much all my stuff is bought at MSRP except for the Hibiki 12s and 17s which i bought via auction. Have a full set of the Y18, H18 and Hibi21. Passed on the Y25 and Hibi30, too rich for my wallet.

This post has been edited by miuk: Jul 29 2025, 03:00 PM

damn, u made me feel damn old

for ur replies , it seems you are based in sg, or ur purchases are made mainly from duty free

I believe the age statement suntorys are not available at Changi, if in Japan , then you are very lucky

I personally buy some wine that can be aged for 20 years or more with the year of my child's birth year

angel's share

but from my experience, mainly the brandys evaporate faster/more than whiskies

no point storing them in glass and expect it to taste any different

need to be in barrel only u can get the taste

just drink and enjoy

child wedding time buy bit more expensive 21 year above one

I think my max will be yam18 price range. Surprisingly I found it cheaper to buy from carousell singapore than in airport.

Will be getting a hakushu 18 on my next purchase and then the hibiki 21

only reason to buy and keep is duty free.... every time fly in buy 1

unless you drink fast, chances you will have a stash after a while

Based in Singapore. I realise changi can easily get suntory but not at klia.
I was at Japan last Dec I find their liquor are more expensive hence did not buy.

Now changi started selling yama and hakushu 18. Bought yam18 already ,plan to get hakushu from casousell. Seems like cheaper.

After that will stop I guess...lol.

just get from carousel

Changi duty free not cheap, unless got certain promo

sometimes I get my supply from Cold Storage with promo, even cheaper than duty free Changi

In Asia, pretty much only worth it to buy in Narita or Haneda ariport itself, no point kena potong at outside shops or other airports. 18/21 year bottles are only 55k yen when you find it.

TPE airport is pretty much the cheapest i've been and can nego some more for free gifts.



This post has been edited by miuk: Jul 29 2025, 05:23 PM

most of my collections I took from my parents when they wanna clean out their stocks haha still couldn’t find a reason to open and drink.

The Blanton bourbon and one other whiskey I bought myself I managed to finish it with my hengdai table during my wedding.

once you kept for sometime, you wont bother about price jor bah.
just open and enjoy la brother.

experience > material/money.

TS if you're looking to collect, I got one Macallan rich cacao for sale

usually its the scalpers who stockpile these "limited editions" because they think they can scalp for it in future or to show some "prestige" of owning atas bottles. these fukers are the ones jacking up the prices and perceived value of whiskies like how they rekted japanese whisky prices. now even cheap shit from japan immediately become expensive shit

but most of the time some folks are more on keeping the bottles that they like to enjoy in future. remember that any aged kind of liquor takes time to create and are based on the tastes of the master distiller years ago

so what makes it special is that the flavor of the past is kept sealed in the bottle even if its just a cheap bottle. most whiskies be it blended or the single malts nowadays are constantly changing based on the environment its aged in, type of wood, weather bla bla so on

for example back in year 2000 you drank a 12yo single malt from Glenfiddich, that was the taste they created in 1988. so if you drink another 12yo now in 2025, the same bottle may not be the same taste as the master distiller prolly has died or changed.

another reason also because over time, some liquors recipe are "tweaked". many liquors like Gordon's gin now due to popularity watered down their gin to 37% instead of 40% to meet rising demands (or fit into country regulations etc).



PS: tho you can argue this is pretentious talk lol, in the end people just guzzle whiskies like water anyway instead of enjoying then theres no need to stockpile


rule of thumb for buying whiskies that you think you might want to keep, always buy in twos

that way you can open one for tasting then the other simpan for dunno when to drink

Japan distilled limited amount of whisky. most japanese whisky are bottled from canada, scotland, etc. if one visit liquor store e.g. aeon supermarket in japan will find a wide range of affordable japanese and imported whisky.

excise duty is often based on % of alcohol. a few decades ago, many brandy and whisky was >42% alcohol. to pay for lower excise duty, distributor request for lower % alcohol.

whisky could be blended in almost limitless ways to achieve desire profile. if a profile is known, it is possible to replicate e.g. many couldn't tell the difference from adulterated whisky/brandy. also means, profile of a blended whisky is more consistent than single malt.

most people buy on brand name/hype rather than taste. many buy expensive japanese because of trending e.g like rolex a few years ago.

Japanse Whisky... can use here as price reference ba.
yeah- not anyone can go Osaka to purchase, but u may see how much mark up any resaler made - and decide if it is worth it.

somemore this place is near shopping district- probably got other places which sell cheaper.

For those lazy to convert....
normal Yama- 350 MYR
Yama 12- MYR 650
Yama 18- MYR 2800
Hibiki 21 -MYR 2500

as i recall- there is another 10% tax rebate on the spot.....

https://www.instagram.com/p/DJWD0JHzitg/?im...mltdDU1djFncDdr

1. yes correct, to artificially inflate the pricing for "limited edition" stuff (granted they have limited space to age/store) especially the ones thats going to be exported. not to mention how many "japanese" whiskies brand are just throwing shit into market to earn a quick buck by selling subpar whiskies at inflated prices.

2. yeah correct, its purely a business/regulation decision. but no doubt the taste will change because of the lower ABV. this is considered subjective POV however cause to those who just drinks for fun they wouldnt know nor care

3. correct as like you said it mostly applies to blended whiskies which they can tweak here there to the master distiller's taste for consistency. but for single malts which requires min 12yrs many things could change during their aging process, which is why i brought it up as a point haha

4. deswai, then they go scalp it thinking its like some gold bar in whisky market ughh.. i still rmb the days Yamazaki 12 was only mere RM300-400 despite winning some whisky event.. then when the scalpers came everything went like 3-10x higher