Cue the party lines between the camp that leans into the new (perchance alittle bit of ragebait to the hardliner fans), and the camp that says nothing beats the old (code for "whatever I can't get anymore has to be better). Nothing gets folks more fired up when a distillery re-issues a flagship staple!

And so we're into 2026, with the re-issued (re-released, re-what have you) Miyagikyo 10 Year Old, which was announced in 2025, a solid 2 years after the re-issue of its companion, the Yoichi 10 Year Old. Honestly, that's what strikes me as being far more fascinating than any debate about whether the old or new Miyagikyo 10 Year Old is better - given that Yoichi and Miyagikyo serve as Nikka Whisky's twin engines, why's it that the Yoichi 10 Year Old was released in 2023 and the Miyagikyo 10 Year was only released in 2025? Should anyone have a clue, please feel free to talk my ear off!

Nikka Whisky's Miyagikyo Distillery in Sendai.

Regardless, the wait is over. The Miyagikyo 10 Year Old is back!

But for those who might not have yet been caught up with why the release of what seems like a fairly ordinary flagship whisky matters, let's get into it!

Getting into the mid-2010's, the fervour for all things Japanese whisky was on in full swing. For better or worse, anything that even appeared Japanese was immediately swooped up in micro-seconds, and the world just could not get enough. Yet, under the surface and unbeknownst to its fans, it seemed to be that most Japanese distillers truly didn't see coming this long awaited meteoric rise in popularity of their Japanese whiskies. As early as the the 1990's, Japanese whiskies had still been tucked away in a niche corner of the World Whisky category, even as it had been producing whiskies since the 1920's. And so, it's not all that shocking that after a seven decade wait, it might've appeared that maybe Japanese whiskies weren't ever going to be the next big thing, and that this wish for Japanese whiskies to be an international drinker's first pick at a bar might have just been little more than a pipe dream. Who would have then thought that the combination of an international prize here and a cameo in a cult classic film there would suddenly catapult the category into the stars? I might not have believed it myself!

The old Miyagikyo 10 Year Old (discontinued in 2015) and the new Miyagikyo 10 Year Old (re-introduced in 2025).

Yet, that was the case! Of course, much more had happened behind the scenes, with massive strides in quality enhancements, as well as much effort and marketing invested into understanding what consumers wanted and helping drinkers develop a taste for this new style of whisky that would emerge. Whatever the case, the fact was that even into the 2010's, there was still little embrace over this new reality of a hyper popular Japanese whisky category, and so many distilleries ended up being caught off guard with insufficient aged whisky stocks - that of course includes even the historic and more well established distilleries. And the thing about ageing whisky is that, a day, a month and a year can only go at the exact pace of a day, a month and a year respectively - no slower, nor any faster. So no matter how great the demand was, the prices that were willing to be paid for it, nor however much the distilleries might have researched, and hoped and prayed for, there was simply no way to get hands on sufficiently aged stocks of whisky.

The flagship Miyagikyo 10 Year Old, 12 Year Old and 15 Year Old.

And so into the mid-2010's, one by one, classic Japanese whisky staples, which were always a common sight and well stocked on the shelves of Japanese grocery stores (the last thing anyone probably thought would become a matter of scarcity) began to be discontinued - first the 10 year old, then the 15 year old, and on to the 20 year old's. Notices were put out every few months that there was simply not enough to go around, and that the soonest these whiskies could be replenished would be to start getting them into the barrels today. Within a short few years, some of Japan's most beloved distilleries no longer featured any whiskies with an age statement, which were by then replaced with non-age statement (NAS) expressions. And so it was clear that the wait was on - a 10 year wait at the least, for a flagship 10 year old expression. 

The re-introduced Yoichi 10 Year Old and Miyagikyo 10 Year Old.

Now as it turns out, the saying is true. The days are long, but the years are short. 10 years would go by, and sometime out of the blue in 2023, it was quietly announced that Nikka's Yoichi 10 Year Old was to finally mark its return. But wait, wasn't there supposed to be an accompanying Miyagikyo 10 Year Old too? Well, beyond photos of trade samples of the Miyagikyo 10 Year Old floating around online, Nikka was on quiet on the Sendai front. That was until 2025, when in similar Nikka fashion, it was casually dropped that the Miyagikyo 10 Year Old was finally ready for its own re-issue. No explanation thus far has been given for the 2 year lag, but hey, we'll take it! As they say, better late than never!

Now, when the Yoichi 10 Year Old was re-issued in 2023, we had tasted it and found it very enjoyable, in fact we actually liked it more than the discontinued version - you can read our review here! - and so we have high hopes for this new Miyagikyo 10 Year Old.

| Read: Yoichi 10 Year Old, 2022 (Re-Release), 45% ABV [REVIEWED!]

And that all brings us to today, where we've finally gotten our hands on the new Miyagikyo 10 Year and will give it a taste test and tell you what we think! Let's go!

PS. Now that both the Yoichi 10 Year Old and Miyagikyo 10 Year Old have made their return, it can be reasoned that we should in the coming years likely see a gradual re-introduction of the full classic Nikka line up, with the 12 Year Old (Miyagikyo), 15 Year Old (both Yoichi and Miyagikyo) and 20 Year Old's (Yoichi) of the Yoichi and Miyagikyo single malts, and also the Taketsuru blend. So mark your calendars for a couple more years!

Whisky Review: Miyagikyo 10 Year Old (New / Re-Released), 45% ABV | シングルモルト宮城峡10年

Tasting Notes

Colour: Deep Gold

Aroma: Opens with fresh fruit orchard scents of apples and pears - lots of apples, in fact! It's honeyed and candied, garnished with apple and pear blossoms, with then a base of dried dark fruits of raisins, plums and prunes, as well as some leather and lacquered oak. It's got a slight resinous quality to it, with also a whiff of incense. WIth time, more delicate, perfumed aromas of rose petals and turkish delight reveal themselves, with also some of that musty rancio of gurney sacks of sundried fruit. 

Taste: Medium-bodied, plush and rich, almost syrupy in texture, really honeyed and waxy, still belting out all those big apple notes, alongside the softer dried dark fruits of plums, prunes and raisins. The brighter top notes continue to develop to give apple blossoms, vanilla and even a sweet savouriness of grilled apples. At the base, leather and that dried sour plum rancio combines with the honeyed body to give sour plum maltose candies.

Finish: Honeyed still, with a concentrated core of apple liqueur, here backed up with a rustic bit of raw cream and meadowy white florals, and then it's back to the savouriness and rancio of dried sour plums. Really plush, supple and rich, seamless finish, where light wisps of BBQ smoke appear. A lingering of gentle BBQ meat savouriness coaxed with honey and maltose, whilst also keeping with the waxiness of lacquered agarwood and fragrant apple blossoms.

My Thoughts

Stellar whisky! This was greatly aromatic with loads and loads of fresh red apples and apple blossoms, coupled with this waxy quality of lacquered agarwood, and then backed up by what feels like Sherried bits of dark fruits and leather, all of which is then delivered in a body of candied maltose that's seasoned with this almost herbal sweet sour savouriness of dried sour plum rancio, never overpowering, and in fact very nostalgic. It's as mellow as it is rich, really firm, broad and with concentration and saturation, great texture and body, yet what satisfies most is how balanced and complete it feels, with all these intense, fresh and bright orchard fruit aromatics that's paired with the deeper, darker black fruited and earthy tones. It's really multi-dimensional and multi-faceted it feels, where it just easily aces it on every count; there's everything you could want, and executed splendidly and cohesively, bringing altogether nothing short of a very steadfast and solid whisky.

As far as comparisons go, the new Miyagikyo 10 Year Old seems to me more bold, more refined and polished, with much more forward aromatics and flavours. It feels broadly richer and with more body and depth, and also strikes me as being more charming and cohesive. It's got more of a distinct character as opposed to an assortment of flavours. The discontinued (old) Miyagikyo 10 Year Old whilst offering a more musty air of age or antiquity, felt more raw and also milder, with a lighter body and depth, where it certainly didn't strike me as being just as aromatic or forward, showcasing more of a spread of various flavour notes that had been assembled happenstance.

That makes it two for two - personally I find both the new Yoichi 10 Year Old and Miyagikyo 10 Year Old winners! Both incredibly aromatic, the Yoichi more muscular, with the Miyagikyo more elegant, yet both demonstrating great richness and forward flavours, showcasing individually a more distinct and cohesive identity.

Kanpai!

@111hotpot