Cheapest Whisky on the Market?

Maxvalu blended whisky is back, I wouldn’t necessary say it is better, in fact I can’t as I have not sampled the original cheap 720ml (598 yen) bottling. However, throughout Maxvalu supermarkets and a selection of other affiliated supermarkets such as Marunaka and Daie, the cheapest whisky on the market adorning the shelves today, now comes in a 2.7 litre plastic bottle. Retailing at just 1,800 yen, the oversized Maxvalu whisky works out to be approximately just 67 yen per 100mls. Technically, in some parts of the world, in particular Europe I believe, this home brand whisky cannot be classified as a blend as it also contains white spirit. Domestically this is not an issue so it clearly is marketed, if any at all, as a blend. Unfortunately there is no indication as to where the malt or grain has come from, but the group behind this low budget and widely accessible whisky is the Aeon group.

Since Aeon also has on the market a Maxvalu larger beer, which apparently source materials from Asahi, one could possibly speculate that the materials in their home brand whisky are also from the beer giant. If this is the case, in hindsight that would effectively make the materials used in the blend directly coming from Nikka. In my opinion, and I may be very wrong, I couldn’t imagine the malt and grain in this whisky being sourced from an international supplier or distillery, it would effectively cost more to do so and wouldn’t justify the extremely cheap price.