Nikka – It's just the booze dancing…: Recent Episodes
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Troll any whisky message board on any platform you like and the biggest complaint is always about price and availability of some uber-popular whisky. Blanton’s, Rip or Pappy Van Winkle, Buffalo Trace Antique Collection, Weller, and several others are extremely difficult to get and extremely expensive if you happen to get lucky and actually find a bottle. The same goes for anything Yamazaki, Hibiki, Hakushu, and a few other popular Japanese brands.
But fear not Ladies and Gents! If you keep your eyes open and ask around, there are many delicious drams to be had that won’t obliterate your budget. Nikka Coffey Malt is one such whisky as the bottle in this video cost around $80.
Here’s a bit more info about this Japanese Whisky from the Nikka website:
This unique expression was developed in 2013 as a result of Nikka’s continuous experiments to widen the variety and offer more excitements to aficionados. Made from 100% malted barley, whisky distilled in a Coffey still is matured in old casks to enhance the rich maltiness, complexity and a silky texture. This expression is not categorized as “malt whisky” but as “grain whisky” since it is not distilled in a pot still. 45% ABV
We reviewed the Nikka Coffey Grain Whisky a while back and absolutely loved it. Click play on the following video to find out if the Nikka Coffey Malt is another winner:
If you like what you saw and heard, please subscribe to our blog and YouTube Channel. It’s the easiest and BEST way to find out what we’ll be tasting next!
For those of you that aren’t familiar with Japanese Whisky, when we were first introduced to it, affordable and accessible were the names of the game…
Yamazaki 12 and 18,
Hakushu 10,
Hibiki 12, 17, and 21,
Nikka Whisky from the Barrel,
Nikka Yoichi 10, etc etc.
In under 10 years, that all changed. The whiskies listed above are both elusive and wildly expensive. So what do you do when you can’t find the special whisky that you grew to love? Easy. Find something else!
This bottle of Nikka’s NAS (no age statement) Yoichi was a stumbled-upon whisky, i.e. one of those bottles that you see on a shelf in your favorite whisky shop and just HAVE TO BUY.
Before we get to the review, here’s what the Nikka Distillery has to say about this whisky:
Yoichi Single Malt is a range of single malt expressions from the Yoichi Distillery, Nikka’s first distillery built in 1934. The founder Masataka Taketsuru chose the town of Yoichi in Hokkaido because of the similar environmental conditions to Scotland, where he learned whisky-making.
Yoichi malts are described as bold and strong with refined peaty notes and smokiness brought by the traditional direct coal-fired distillation. Sea breeze from the Ishikari Bay delivers a briny hint to the whisky during maturation.
This no-age-statement version was released in 2016 as a permanent product that truly captures the authentic style of Yoichi malts, when all age-statements were discontinued. Vatting various different malt whiskies together, this bottling expresses a delicate balance between peaty, smoky and fruity aromas.
We’ve been lucky enough to try many a Nikka expression over the years and have always been impressed with what they bring to the table. Click play on the following video to find out if this Yoichi expression is worthy to bear the Nikka name:
If you like what you saw and heard, please subscribe to our blog and YouTube Channel. It’s the easiest and BEST way to find out what we’ll be tasting next!
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