Nikka Whisky From The Barrel with Dan, Ryan & Goran

Whisky from far away lands, and our second from Japan! Nikka Whisky From The Barrel comes by way of a friend‘s mountain climbing travels.

There’s a great story about this distillery – Masataka Taketsuru’s long journey from his family’s sake brewing in Takehara, Japan to university in Glasgow, Scotland, bringing home the origin of the entire Japanese whisky industry, as well as his new Scottish wife and partner. He gave Suntory their whisky before establishing his own Nikka in the most Scottish-looking part of Japan he could find. You can read more about it at their website.

This whisky is a blend, so it’s matured malt whisky and other grain whisky. It’s then matured for a second time and bottled at cask strength. Here’s what we thought:

colour
Dan – apple juice
Simon – cognacish, red
Goran – light, amber
Ryan – light

nose
Dan – cherry, caramel, cinnamon
Simon – popcorn, caramel
Goran – lots of alcohol, apple, caramel
Ryan – cherry, peaty

neat
Dan – sweet woody toffee, huge afterburn
Simon – burning but smooth
Goran – bourbon, oily texture, not much cinnamon
Ryan – corn, wood, slight smoke, sweet

finish
Dan – thick sweet burn (throat)
Simon – chest heat, lip tingle, warm books
Goran – chocolate & butter
Ryan – caramel

splash
Dan – cedar wood, slight salty sweetness
Simon – sweet grains, very smooth caramel
Goran – butter flavour more prevalent, retains structure nicely
Ryan – fruity

Nikka From The Barrel Double Matured Bended Whisky – 51.4% 500ml – $ – Japan

Try it? Yes. Buy it? Majority says yes.