I Spent $600 on a Bottle of Whiskey. Here’s Why

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I first read about the Bainbridge Organic Yama whiskey on January 2016, and the tasting note immediately captured my attention:

Bright aromatics of mango, vanilla, toasted sandalwood, tropical flowers, marzipan and star anise. Flavors open on nutmeg and clove, pear and toasty wood notes, settling out to honeyed vanilla and toasted marshmallow. Finish is warm and lingering with fading spice and a pleasant oak grip.

In addition to sounding delicious, this candy-like American whiskey raised the bar by being the first non-Japanese whiskey to be exclusively aged in new Japanese Minuzara oak. A notoriously brittle but rewarding wood that delivers unique flavors of honey, vanilla, butterscotch and ginger.

Bainbridge Organic was also donating the bulk of the profits to restore the last abandoned Issei (first-generation Japanese) village in America, located on Bainbridge Island.

There was only one catch to this world class whiskey for a good cause. Only 200 bottles would be released and each bottle would be $600 after taxes.

Eleven months later, the Seattle Times highlighted that the Yama had won Craft Whiskey of the Year.

This article prompted a spontaneous day trip from Seattle to Bainbridge Island, where my girlfriend and I tried a pour of the Yama at the local bar on the harbor before heading over to Bainbridge Organic distillery.

The Yama blew me away from first sip. It was so smooth, complex and surprisingly tasted like banana bread, a unique flavor I had not tasted from from a whiskey before and have not tasted since.

I bought a bottle that day because of the unique taste combined with the following three reasons.

1. Quality: I value quality over intent. This is the reason why I don’t pay $65 for local craft distillery whiskey that tastes worse than a $25 bottle from a conglomerate. I get that the local whiskey may not taste “bad,” but I don’t want “not bad” for $60. Based on taste alone, the local Yama was world class. This local bottle rivaled scotches I tasted in Scotland and bourbons I drank on the Kentucky Bourbon Trail.
2. Passion: It was clear from day one that this bottle was a passion project by Bainbridge Organic. They sourced all the grains locally. They obtained a rare wood from Japan. They fully aged whiskey in this wood that no one had done before. This small distillery tried something new for a good cause, and hit a home run with the Yama. I wanted to signal my appreciation of their originality, as well as my wish to see more projects like this.
3. Awareness: It was a breath of fresh air to see this local distillery pledge to donate the bulk of profits to revitalize a Japanese village on Bainbridge Island. A message that Asian American history is relevant and important, not something to be ignored or marginalized.

As an Asian American born in the U.S., I’ve felt both invisible and visible growing up in the ‘90s and early ‘00’s. There was virtually no positive mention of Asians in politics, news, popular culture, sports or business. However, there was a plethora of negative stereotypes like Asians being socially awkward, only good at school, and bad at driving. While these perceptions are slowly changing as of 2018, there is still a massive cultural vacuum when it comes to Asians in America.

So, hell yes, I bought a world class bottle of whiskey from a local company that donated the bulk of profits to bring awareness to ignored Asian American history in America.

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