Shinjir? Torii first opened Torii Shten in early 1899 in Osaka as an imported wine store. He changed the name to Kotobukiya company in 1921 as the business continued to scale and evolve its offering and eventually became Suntory in 1963 as a combination of a reference to the sun and an anglicized spelling of Torii’s name. Suntory AO is a 43% ABV Blended Japanese Whisky that brings together 5 different whiskies from Ireland, Scotland, the USA, Canada and Japan, and is bursting with aromas of banana, tropical vanilla cream and orange peel, flowing velvet – smooth across the palate with a little smokey spice for a woody, vanilla finish.