Suntory Group has announced it will be suspending sales of two of its prestigious single malt whiskies due to supply shortages combined with surging demand. Credit: Suntory Group.

Japanese food and beverage company Suntory Group has announced it will be suspending sales of two of its prestigious single malt whiskies due to supply shortages combined with surging demand.

The company’s Hakushu 12-year-old single malt will no longer be available after next month and its Hibiki 17-year-old blend, which Bill Murray famously drank in the film Lost in the Translation, will reportedly only be available until September.

This follows Suntory’s decision to phase out its Hibiki 12-year-old in 2015 and released Hibiki Harmony without an age speculation.

The whisky shortage in Japan stems from a slump in domestic whisky consumption in the 1990s and early 2000s, which triggered a reduction in production.

There was a boom in demand for Japanese whisky both domestically and internationally in 2014 as it became known for its quality. Demand has remained at high levels since.

As a result Japanese distillers cannot meet demand and have been forced to halt sales. All of Nikka’s single malts with age statements are unavailable and the company’s Yoichi and Miyagikyo’s single malts were reformulated and released without an age classification.

Although Suntory and other distillers are investing in increasing their production capacity, maturation of whisky takes time, especially those with certain age speculations, and thus it will take years for products like Hakushu 12-year-old and Hibiki 17-year-old to return to the global market.

Suntory has invested more than US$182m in improving its production capacity since 2013 with a focus on its Yamazaki and Hakushi distilleries. It has also expanded its Ohmi Aging Cellar and has said it has said it will spend an extra $80m on the Hakushu aging facilities.