Distiller Notes
#15 Whisky Advocate Top 20 Whiskies of 2021
Taketsuru Pure Malt is a combination of whisky from both Nikka distilleries: Yoichi and Miyagikyo. It's matured in a combination of sherry butts, bourbon barrels and new American oak. Its gentle malt flavor, fruitiness and well-balanced approachability make it a perfect entry point into the range of Nikka whiskies.
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
The luxe aroma mixes rich butterscotch and apple sweetness. On the palate, this whisky is light and gentle, interspersing fruit and smoke and finishing with a spark of cinnamon heat. Add a splash of water; recommended for sipping.
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Whisky Advocate
Nikka’s signature bottling honors founder Masataka Taketsuru, who brought his whisky making skills back from Scotland to Japan in 1920. Taketsuru’s successors have reformulated this blended malt, which fully complies with the latest definitions of Japanese whisky. The aromas create an oasis of calm with layers of gentle wood spices, smoke, vanilla pod, and lemon biscuits, while the palate carries a distinctive waxy sappiness that revels in luscious flavors of star fruit, lemon, Asian pear, peach syrup, and aromatic spice.
Sharing a great deal with Scotch in terms of production methods and ingredients, today’s hugely successful commercial market of Japanese Whisky owes much to the research of Masataka Taketsuru. In 1918, this Japanese national travelled to Scotland with the intention of studying organic chemistry but instead became fascinated with Scotch Whisky production. Similar to Scotch Whisky, Japanese Whisky also uses malted barley as the fermentation base and long-term aging in wooden barrels. However, the often-used Mizunara oak, rather than French or American oak, imparts uniquely spicy and citrus-like characteristics to a Japanese Whisky.