Suntory vs Nikka
Japanese whisky is a tale of two houses and one broken friendship. Suntory owns Yamazaki (Japan's first malt distillery, 1923), Hakushu's forest freshness and the Chita grain distillery — and blends them into Hibiki, whose 24-faceted decanter honours the 24 seasons of the old Japanese calendar. Nikka was founded in 1934 by Masataka Taketsuru — the chemist who learned whisky-making in Scotland and left Suntory's founder to build his own Scottish-style distillery at Yoichi. Nikka From the Barrel, in its little apothecary bottle, is the bartender's favourite.
The 2003 film Lost in Translation made Hibiki 17 globally famous — and demand eventually drank the stocks dry: it was discontinued in 2018.