Featured at World Whisky Day 2018: Masataka Taketsuru founded Nikka Whisky in 1934, fifteen years after traveling to Scotland to learn about whisky production. Nikka’s first distillery was in Yoichi and the company now owns seven distilleries. The Yoichi and Miyagikyo distilleries are where malt distilling takes place and the Nikka Taketsuru, named after the company’s founder, combines single malts from both locations. Nikka currently makes several No Age Statement kinds of whiskies around a similar price point, along with a few more expensive age statement whiskies.
The term Pure Malt, or Vatted Malt, was one once used in Scotland but now abandoned after the Scotch Whisky Regulations of 2009, to denote a blend of single malt whiskies from different distilleries. The term Blended Malt is now used. This differs from blended whiskies, which often include neutral or grain spirits along with those made from barley.
Distillery: Nikka
Region: Foreign
Age: NAS
Strength: 43%
Price: $69.99
Location: Yoichi, Hokkaido, Japan
Nose: Orange peel, caramel, summer sausage, wintergreen, orange mint
Palate: Tobacco, caramel
Finish: Tobacco, wintergreen
Comments:
Adam – I always feel like there’s something luxuriant about good Japanese whiskies. The Nikka Taketsuru is no exception. A great blend of citrus, mint and sausage on the nose. A pity that complexity doesn’t transfer completely to the palate but there are still rewards for the tongue. The sweetness from the nose coalesces into caramel, coupled with a medium pipe tobacco taste. The mouthfeel is where the luxury comes in, reminiscent of the Yamazaki 12. The oil allows the tastes to remain with you, pleasantly so, and the tobacco in the finish is lightened by the wintergreen. There is a little edge to let you know you’re drinking alcohol but this is a moderately complex, satisfying whisky.
Jenny – It smells like mash or fermenting grains.
Meghan – This has a lovely hit of citrus on the nose, followed up with mint and caramel. There isn’t as much citrus on the palate, unfortunately. Of course, if you have read many of my reviews you may rightly suspect that I’d like the world to smell and taste of citrus (if I could only pick one flavor). The Nikka is a lot drier on the palate than some other Japanese whiskies, though the dryness complements the tobacco and grain flavors and helps highlight the minty tingle that, held over from the nose, shows up on the edges of the palate and the finish. This is not my favorite Japanese whisky but I would not turn it down. It is a denser, richer whisky than the Yamazaki 12, though that observation is not to either dram’s detriment. Although I did not try this with food specifically, I think it would pair nicely with steamed dumplings or other Asian-style appetizers. The Nikka Taketsuru has a robust enough palate to handle stronger flavors like scallions or hints of cilantro and basil. But, the whisky is not so complex or intriguing that it would overpower the food. I can see where this whisky would bring nuances of sweet, with a touch of sour, to a food’s salty and unami aspects. Notes for the next bottle: serve with dim sum.
Notes for the next bottle: serve with dim sum.
Michael – Sometimes when you have an Asian soup and you can’t identify everything in it but it’s very flavorful. You’re not able to pick apart all its elements because you don’t consume it very often.
Mary-Fred – There’s a density to this that’s lovely. A smoothness that coats your mouth in a real nice way. If I were swimming in this, it would support me.
Ben – It’s sweet, it’s not too sweet at all. The Nikka Taketsuru doesn’t have a lot of heat on it.
