'FROM THE BARREL' - NIKKA

Moving from 3 blended malts - Taketsuru - on to another product from the gentlemen at Nikka Whisky. Again, as with the Taketsurus, we're dealing with whisky from Yoichi and Miyagikyo distilleries, but this time grain whisky has also been added.

As to the origins of the grain whisky, it most likely coming from Miyagikyo distillery as well, since some of their production equipment is also configured to make grain whisky. This is, though, just my qualified guess... Why, you ask? Well, it's most likely not bought from other Japanese distillers, since its not a part of Japanese culture/tradition to do business with their competitors... therefore, I'm guess it's either Miyagikyo grain or grain whisky bought in from i.e. Scotland.

Another trait of this blend is that its gone through a period of 'marrying', which means its not just blended and then bottled - 'Marrying' means it has been recasked for a period of time to allow for the malt and grain whisky to interact with each other, providing a more harmonious product.

Oh, and then its bottle at a very nice 51,4% alcohol - big thumbs up for that!!

Now the big question is... is it really more harmonious?

'From the Barrel' blended whisky, 51,4%, batch 02B62A, 50cl bottle, Nikka

Colour is light mahogany

Nose:
Hints of ale and peat, vanilla, light oak/sawdust, some fruit, tobacco, moss and mere hints of burning incense

Taste:
Dark fruits sherry style, spices - cloves and nutmeg, good malty edge suggesting a high malt content. Mulled fruit, mild honey and some vegetative notes and a clear burst of peat. The grain in this is not really showing and I'm betting this whisky could easily fool a lot of people into believing its a malt.

Also the 51,4% alcohol does quite a lot for this whisky, making sure its delivery is powerful enough to impress from the first sip, yet it also manages to be not be overpowering in its delivery of the underlying notes.... and the reason for that is probably because of mellow grain whisky influence. This is high quality stuff!! and at a decent price too...

Please note that it only comes in a 50cl bottle and that this whisky comes in marked batches...
The batch number is located in the lower right corner of the front label on the bottle.

87/100!

Note 05.10.2013: After the bottle have been open for about 1 month now, more grain notes are starting to come through, making the whole experience quite sweet and less complex, the peated notes are gone too. This is making me drop my score from 87 to 83... but still good whisky, no doubt about that!

TAKETSURU 21YO BLENDED MALT - NIKKA

Personal has had me tied up this week, so I've been delaying the review of the 21yo Taketsure for a bit, so here we go:

Taketsuru 21yo, 43%, Blended Malt, Nikka

Colour is deep amber

Nose:
Clearly older content malt (Good observation as the label says 21yo, Claus). I find some notes of what seems to be even older malt in there, IMO... or maybe its just a result of those hot summers, cold winter maturation conditions they have in Japan. Dried fruits accompany some tropical fruits juice/citrus freshness, banana, exotic wood, floral, heavy malt, honey, resin and hint of leather

Taste:
Caramel, orange, honey, hint of peat, hardwood, pipe tobacco and a little earthy/musty too.
Hint of tea and chocolate and a spicy edge,mainly nutmeg and allspice. Very malty and this really shows on the finish as its just sits there for quite a while.

A very well balanced whisky and quite a step up from the 17yo, IMO

86/100!

TAKETSURU 17YO BLENDED MALT - NIKKA

Not much more to say about the Taketsuru blended malt fra Nikka, so I'll skip right to the review of the 17yo version, which has a slightly higher alc% of 43% as opposed to the 40% of the 12yo.

Taketsuru 17yo, 43%, Blended Malt, Nikka

Colour is amber

Nose:
Woodshavings, some fruit, vanilla, dark sugar, cigarbox, more sherry influence here than in the 12yo version, but also more oak.

Taste:
Its funny how much more that 3% alcohol shows, especially on the initial arrival here...
The arrival confirms my suspicion on a higher sherry cask content and all in all, the malt is noticeably heavier here than in the 12yo.

It also carries over some oranges and dried fruits as well as some ginger, but as on the nose, the oak is noticeably stronger in this one, finishing it off with a tannic edge.

Good dram if you don't mind a slight oaky edge without it being offensive.

82/100!

TAKETSURU 12YO BLENDED MALT - NIKKA

The next line of reviews, 7 of them, will feature Japanese whiskies. 4 blended (vatted) malts and 3 single malts from cult distillery Karuizawa... but you'll have to check back regularly for reviews on those...

I'll be doing a small vertical of the Taketsuru blended (vatted) malts - aged 12, 17 and 21.
A 35yo version is also bottled, but I won't be reviewing that.

Masataki Taketsuru was the name of the Japanese gentleman that travelled to Scotland in the early 20th century to study at Glasgow University and learn the secrets of whisky making, first at at Longmorn in Speyside and then (the original) Hazelburn Distillery in Campbeltown.

He then returned home to Japan to start a distillery himself and the first one built was Yoichi on the north island Hokkaido, close to the city of Sapporo.

This series of blended malts were made in his honor...

Taketsuru 12yo, 40%, Blended Malt, Nikka

Colour is amber

Nose:
Some sherry as in dark fruits, overripe apple and vanilla and something herbal (tea?)

Taste:
Sherried edge again, hardwood, malt, natural caramel, peppery and cooked apple. The oak and caramel and finish is is a bit too bitter for me

Hmm... decent sipping whisky, but IMO the finish isn't all that great!

79/100!

JAPANESE WHISKY SPECIAL - YOICHI 20YO - DISTILLERY BOTTLING

Another Nikka brand - the Yoichi - is located on the north island of Hokkaido, not far from the former Olympic city of Sapporo. Where most other distilleries in Japan is located down south in a very much close to sub-tropical climate, Yoichi gets all 4 seasons up north on Hokkaido.

This is the 20yo expression from this highly esteemed distillery...

Yoichi 20yo 52%, batch 08J54B, Nikka

Colour: Deep Amber

Nose:
Earthy and sherried notes with a hint of peat, hardwood planks and tobacco.
Marinated dark fruits, fresh leather/hint of wet horse and black tea.

Taste:
Sherry and peat, burnt sugar, spicy fruits, wet oak staves, earthen floors and sweet tobacco giving off delicate peat in the aftertaste...

Though its still good whisky, I'd thought this would give off more than it did...

87/100!

JAPANESE WHISKY SPECIAL - MIYAGIKYOU 15YO - DISTILLERY BOTTLING

The Sendai region in Japan was one of the hardest hit in the earthquake/tsunami disaster in April 2011. Luckily the Miyagikyou distillery is place 15km inland up in the mountains.
The rest of the region was not so lucky and was one of the regions hardest hit by the tsunami.

Miyagikyuo is owned by the other large whisky producer in Japan - Nikka - and is said to produce a lighter style of whisky, much akin to Scottish lowland whisky, but this 15yo expression is not one of those...

Lets try this:

Miyagikyou 15yo 45%, batch 18C32C, Nikka

Colour: Amber

Nose:
Heavy, a little hint of 'dirty' sherry cask. Wet forest and decomposing dark fruits, mint, praline and crushed black pepper. With time the dirty feel from the cask goes away to expose a nice light layer of sherry. Also vanilla and a slightly perfumy notes appears with time...

Taste:
Sweet'n'sour sherry, rubbery dark fruits and a drying element.
Seems a bit thin, though water brings out a bit more sherry and 'cleans its up' a bit...Getting peated with time and gets a Xmas cake thing going...

A decent dram... but had expected a little more...

84/100!