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Best nikka whiskey7/23/2023 This means bottles could be sharp and spicy, smoothly mellow, herbal and zesty or anything in between, depending on their blend, grain and cask-ageing method. Unlike most whiskies, the best Japanese whisky has no real distinction in terms of regional styles, nor does it have any unifying character. Instead, the distilleries turned their hand to more harmonious blends and the standout single grains we know them for today. Japan’s whiskies were originally made in the Scotch tradition, but the peaty, smoky flavours didn’t land well with Japanese palates. The distilleries are popular for good reason: they’re home to some of the best Japanese whisky you’ll find around today. That’s why we went straight to the experts in whisky to find out what the best ones are to buy and try right now.Japanese whisky – not whiskey, mind – has exploded in popularity over the past few years, with the two main distilleries, Nikka and Suntory, earning themselves global fans for their delicious drams. We’re all for coveted expressions but we’re also glad to know that not every whisky lover out there has a quarter of a million to drop on liquid gold. These days countless Japanese whiskies have reached collector’s status, fetching well over $300,000 for a single bottle in some extreme cases. “There are some other expressions of whiskies that have elaborate bottles – some are good, but there are elaborate bottles that are also bad.” What Whisky Experts Say He also says to pay attention to bottle designs. Is the environment and atmosphere there to enjoy the whisky as it’s supposed to be?” If you’re going out for whisky, ask if you’re getting the service that the whisky deserves. So the way I would justify it is to look at the whole package. “The better the whisky the more expensive it is because it’s simply harder to find,” he says. We asked Jason Ang of Sydney’s Tokyo Bird to explain the basic economics of whisky. The Miyagikyo 12-Year-Old Single Malt uses steam to heat the stills instead of coal and is finished in Bourbon barrels, giving it a lighter, more floral nose, with dried fruits and a nutty Sherry finish. Taketsuru also found the pure air and high humidity of the Scottish highlands on the eastern coast on the main island of Honshu, where he established his Miyagikyo still. Such is the pursuit of purity in its production, the Yoichi stills are still coal-fired a technique barely practised in even the oldest of the Scottish stills. An austere and rigorous drop, with a flinty peat characteristic that arrives seemingly from nowhere and evolves into a long, salty, spicy finish. Nikka’s Yoichi 15-year-old single malt is an embodiment of this vision. On their return to Japan, the newly married Mr and Mrs Taketsuru established a still on Hokkaido island, in Japan’s far-north, seeking to replicate the conditions and traditions of the finest Scotch. Torii’s apprentice Masataka Taketsuru, who would found the other giant of Japanese distilling Nikka, sought to embody in his whiskies the austerity and traditions of Scotland, a land which gave him both his education (he was the first Japanese person to study whisky scientifically) and his wife. A perfectly balanced whisky built for the Japanese palate (and a favourite cocktail base of bartenders). Suntory’s staple and most well-known whisky, the Hibiki 12-Year-Old, is an exquisitely smooth blend of a number of Suntory’s malts and a grain whisky to meld everything together. Torii, who started Suntory and founded Japan’s first distillery in 1923 in Yamazaki, is best described as the man who sought to give whisky its own identity.
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