When people see or hear about Nikka whisky, what comes to mind might be the more commonly seen blends like Nikka From the Barrel, Nikka Days, The Nikka. But what many might not know, however, is that Nikka isn’t really just one distillery. It actually has multiple distilleries under it, with Yoichi and Miyagikyo being prominent single malt operations in their own right.

Nikka’s founder Masataka Taketsuru was a bit of a renegade child. He was a Japanese chemist who came from a family of Sake brewers, and had left Japan to study Chemistry in Glasgow, Scotland.

He had apprenticed in the Longmorn Distillery (now owned by Pernod Ricard, maker of Chivas blended whisky and Absolut vodka) and even married a Scotswoman by the name of Rita before brining both her and the precious know-how on Scotch distillation back home to Japan in hopes of starting the Japanese whisky industry himself.

Masataka Taketsuru and his Scottish wife, Rita (Image Source: Wikipedia) 

Back in Japan, Kotobukiya (which later became Suntory) jumped at the chance to bring the walking encyclopaedia of whisky-making on board.

Together, Masataka and Shinjiro Torii established and ran Suntory’s Yamazaki Distillery. However, disagreements in philosophy would eventually lead to Masataka splitting from Yamazaki to strike it out on his own. Wanting to find the closest appropriation to Scotland that Japan had for his first distillery, Masataka soon set down roots in Hokkaido in 1934, starting the Yoichi Distillery.

When that became a success, he sought to expand the complexity of his blended whisky by incorporating a wider variety of flavor profiles. In 1967, he embarked on a journey through the northern part of Japan to find a suitable location for his second distillery.

His search led him to a picturesque glen surrounded by mountains and the meeting point of two clean rivers.

 Miyagikyo sits at the intersection of the Nikkawa River and the Hirosegawa River. Seems oddly familiar... (Image Source: Cool Hunting)

The story goes that upon tasting the water from one of the rivers, Taketsuru was immediately captivated and decided to build the distillery there.

Today, we'll be looking at three expression in Yoichi's Key Malts series. The Key Malts series from Yoichi and Miyagikyo represents an interesting line of single malts intended to showcase 3 components of whiskies used to create the classic single malt expressions from either distilleries. Whereas Miyagikyo's Key Malts comprises of a Fruity & Rich, a Malty & Soft and a Sherry & Sweet components, Yoichi's Key Malts consist of a Woody & Vanillic, a Peaty & Salty (remember that Yoichi is Nikka's peated malt), and a Sherry & Sweet component. 

Through these expressions, we get to taste how each component is on its own before being blended together.

Let's get stuck in!

Tasting Notes

Colour: Light Gold

Aroma: Bright scents of green fruits - green apples, pears, green grapes, all coated in honey. It’s totally bright and fruity, incredibly evocative of walking through a fruit orchard, with the honey providing a good richness to the bouquet on the nose.

Taste: Really rich, with more on muscat grapes, loads of honey, green apples and pears, some maltose too. It’s medium bodied, vibrantly fruity, with a very good richness, heavily leaning on those intense green fruits. Here it’s not as bright as on the nose, just slightly sweet, almost of green grape juice.

Finish: The fruitiness persists, more green grape gummies, elderflower, with also a more Sherry quality of mulled wine, leather, some cooked plums and figs, as well as chocolate, touches of espresso, rounded up by some nuttiness of cashews.

My Thoughts

Really nice and fruity, it almost resembles a sweet white wine! The fruits here are green but not particularly musky, instead they’re vibrant, sweet, and layered into a richer honeyed body. On the nose, it was incredibly evocative, almost like walking into a fruit orchard, whilst on the palate it wasn’t as bright, and felt closer to tinned fruit syrup or a green grape drink. The fruits had a lot of power and carried all the way through to the finish, where interestingly enough it took on a more Sherried quality that was completely unexpected, and showcased much depth and rich earthiness. Really impressive!

My Rating: 8/10

Score/Rating Scale :

• 9-10 : Exceptional, highly memorable, 10/10 would buy if I could.

• 7-8 : Excellent, well above most in its category, worth considering buy-zone.

• 4-6 : Good, okay, alright; a few flaws, but acceptable; not bad, but not my personal preference; still worth trying, could be a buy if the price is right.

• 1-3 : Not good; really did not enjoy; wouldn't even recommend trying.

• 0: Un-scored, might be damaged, new make, or very unusual.

Miyagikyo Single Malt Malty & Soft, 55% ABV – Review

Tasting Notes

Colour: Straw

Aroma: It opens with bright fruits, here it’s a little more musky, with a bouquet of elderflower, jackfruit, custard apple, gooseberries, langsat, some green apples too. There’s a light hit of raw honey. It’s fruity, quite a bit musky, sweet, and more broadly green in tone, with a brighter and lighter aroma.

Taste: Takes a richer turn here, incredibly honeyed, still keeping with the green fruits, tinned fruits, green apples and pears in syrup, mangosteens, a little bit of jackfruit. It’s really rich, medium bodied, yet feels fuller in flavour. There’s a lot of these muscats, almost reminiscent of a sweet fortified white wine.

Finish: More punchy, quite peppery in fact, back to those green apples and pears, tinned lychees, tinned fruit syrups, really good intensity here, with this lingering green fruit candy. More muskiness into the finish.

My Thoughts

This shared the same big fruitiness that was consistent from the nose to the palate, although here it’s a lot brighter and also more musky, with a greener profile. The palate had a very nice richness to it, and came with the tinned fruit syrups that are always a big hit, it almost felt like white Port wine, really candied. Into the finish, what was notable was the really nice intensity and power that it had, keeping the flavours big and bold, really forward, and lingering on until it solidified into a lingering green fruit candy note. This was also really tasty, though I didn’t necessarily pick up on the maltiness, it was nevertheless gentle and rich, although might catch folks off guard with the muskiness of those tropical fruits.

My Rating: 7/10

Score/Rating Scale :

• 9-10 : Exceptional, highly memorable, 10/10 would buy if I could.

• 7-8 : Excellent, well above most in its category, worth considering buy-zone.

• 4-6 : Good, okay, alright; a few flaws, but acceptable; not bad, but not my personal preference; still worth trying, could be a buy if the price is right.

• 1-3 : Not good; really did not enjoy; wouldn't even recommend trying.

• 0: Un-scored, might be damaged, new make, or very unusual.

Miyagikyo Single Malt Sherry & Sweet, 55% ABV – Review

Tasting Notes

Colour: Amber

Aroma: Deep sweetness, there’s cooked plums, rich honey scents, figs decked in toffee, prunes, it’s really rich, with a light hit of leather and cocoa.

Taste: The richness continues, it’s also developed quite a prominent Sherry rancio, with deep notes of dried sour plums, plums, raisins and figs, with also a strong sulphury funky note air dried meats, a little yeasty and of a fermented quality. More on the classically Sherry styled leather, Christmas cake, and again lots of prunes.

Finish: Some of the sulphur makes it through to the finish, and then it’s a continuation of those deep notes of prunes, milk coffee, still really meaty, with some charcuterie meat oils. Nevertheless, good richness, with a nice punchiness to it.

My Thoughts

This is really Sherried indeed, however, it does feel alit more modern in the way it’s done, it’s got those really meaty, sulphury, heavy rancio notes that are incredibly funky and here it might be a little too over the top, giving the palate this intense yeasty, oily and fermented sort of dominance. And whilst there are all these more classically beloved Sherry flavours of Christmas cake, leather, cocoa, plums and figs, that was very well done with all that richness, without being thin, it was still nice and punchy with a good presence; it was nevertheless overshadowed by the incredibly intense rancio which I felt threw it off balance. Some ranch’s great, but too much puts it in a strange place - and this here was some stranger things.

My Rating: 5/10

Score/Rating Scale :

• 9-10 : Exceptional, highly memorable, 10/10 would buy if I could.

• 7-8 : Excellent, well above most in its category, worth considering buy-zone.

• 4-6 : Good, okay, alright; a few flaws, but acceptable; not bad, but not my personal preference; still worth trying, could be a buy if the price is right.

• 1-3 : Not good; really did not enjoy; wouldn't even recommend trying.

• 0: Un-scored, might be damaged, new make, or very unusual.

Lok Bing Hong A budding journalist that loves experiencing new things and telling people's stories. I have 30 seconds of irresponsibly sanctimonious brilliance a day. I do not decide when they come. They are not consecutive.