Distillery
Nikka Taketsuru
Masataka Taketsuru spent two years in Scotland before returning to Japan determined to make whisky the way he'd learned it there. Nikka Taketsuru carries his name and blends single malts from the company's two distilleries into one whisky. Yoichi, on Japan's northern coast in Hokkaido, sits in snow country and produces a robust, smoky malt reminiscent of Scotland's coastal style. Miyagikyo, tucked in a misty valley farther south, yields something softer and more elegant. Blenders combine the two, aided by sherry cask maturation, to build complexity without leaning on grain whisky. The result won top honors at the World Whiskies Awards in 2007. It remains one of the best-known pure malt whiskies to come out of Japan. That is a fitting tribute to the man credited as the father of Japanese whisky.
