Surely many of you have heard of a surprising whisky that one day, in a blind tasting in Scotland, left many with their mouths open. Well, this whisky, which many chose as the best, was not exactly from Scotland, but… from Japan! Its name? Nikka, and this month we present it to you on the Oriental Market blog.
Nikka has the distinction of being the Japanese distillery that won the prestigious international Spirits Challenge 2015. The brand was founded in the 1930s by Msataka Taketsuru. A Japanese man who in 1918 decided to travel halfway around the world to reach Scotland and learn the art of distilling. His stay in this place was very picturesque and he was captivated by the whisky of the area and its main characteristics. This led him to return to his homeland, Japan, to build the first Japanese whisky distillery in Asia about 6 years after his trip. He started his own Whisky Nikka, and his two subsequent distilleries in the Yoichi and Miyagikyo area (precisely two of the whiskies we have in our online shop today). Taketsuru, a connoisseur of the technique, was very meticulous in his choice of each natural site, taking into account the resources of the area, the air and the natural environment in general in order to achieve a top quality whisky. For this reason, today we can say that Nikka is the highest rated premium whisky distillery in the world.
In Oriental Market you can find 8 different varieties: Nikka Blended Whisky, Nikka ‘From the Barrel’, Nikka Coffey Grain, Nikka Coffey Malt, Nikka Pure Malt Black and Red, Nikka Yoichi and Nikka Miyagikyo. Below are the tasting notes for each of them:
