I like bourbon pretty well but I'm a scotch guy at heart (tho currently I'm on a craft beer kick and am haunting Craft and Growler). I've had Yamazaki 12 a few times recently and thought it was very good. Now that some reviewer has anointed their sherry cask the "best whiskey in the world" I'll bet it's all been jacked up in price.
You know, I belong to a Scotch club and I've tried a lot of whiskeys. I've had a lot of expensive whiskeys and some not so expensive whiskeys and if I'm doing the buying I won't spend more than $50. I've had some really great stuff - I got to help drink one of three bottles in the world out of a Balvenie secret stash, and out of a plastic cup at that - but I've never met a bottle of whiskey that was legitimately $50 better than Johnny Walker Black. What I figured out was that yeah, I can tell the difference between a 12, 15, 18, 21 year old whiskey when I try them side by side, but not so much when I'm cracking a bottle open at home. And honestly, I usually like the younger whiskeys better...the move to non-age statement whiskeys is a positive in my opinion...