It’s hard to imagine a category of spirit more hyped by today’s cool-kid drinkers than Japanese whisky. (And yes, you spell it without the “e”.) But until as recently as 2015, whiskey fans were much more likely to reach for a peaty Scotch or robust, caramel-y American bourbon for something special. Although Japanese whisky has been produced for nearly a century, it wasn’t until the Yamazaki Single Malt Sherry Cask 2013 took home the title of World’s Best Whiskey in 2015 that heads turned and attitudes changed—even in Japan.

“I was working at the Mandarin Oriental in Tokyo in 2010, and at that time, only the staff was really drinking Japanese whisky,” explains Bar Moga beverage director Frank Cisneros, the only Westerner to be granted a Japanese visa purely for bartending. “Back then, you could get a bottle of Yamazaki 12 for $25; now it’s a minimum of $100. We never expected it.”

Many of the best Japanese whiskies are silky-smooth and resemble the gentler, less peaty varieties of Scotch, particularly those produced in the Lowland and Speyside regions. It makes sense, given that Japan imported the talent and know-how directly from the Scots: In the early 20th century, Suntory founder Shinjiro Torii hired Masataka Taketsuru, a Japanese chemist who’d studied whisky production in Scotland, to open the Yamazaki distillery. In 1934, Taketsuru opened his own distillery, Yoichi, now part of Nikka. Together, Suntory and Nikka control the lion’s share of the market.

In contrast to the strict rules surrounding what can be classified a Scotch or a bourbon, Japanese whisky has only one: it must be made in Japan. And while the classic production of Japanese whisky is still essentially the same as that of Scotch—a mash of malted barley distilled and barrel-aged for a minimum of three years—the Japanese stuff offers many distinct qualities. For one, Japan’s distilleries typically handle their own blending, rather than trading stocks with one another, which means each house puts out a wide range of styles rather than a single signature, which is common for Scotch producers. Because they blend in-house, Japanese producers can work with multiple types of stills, diverse fermentation methods, and a greater range of casks for aging to create loads of different products (Yamazaki alone makes around 60).