suntory yamazaki pure malt first releaseIn 1984, the first pure malt whisky, the name for single malt whisky in Japan until the 1990s, was released from Suntory's Yamazaki distillery onto the Japanese market. This bottling later became the Yamazaki 12 Year Old. This bottle dates from the production years 1984 to 1988 and was produced in very small quantities. This bottling was never available outside of Japan, and today these bottles are extremely rare and highly sought after by collectors.