When you are categorising whisky, the starting point is to ask whether the whisky in question is a single malt whisky or a blended whisky (there is also single cask whisky, but this is generally expensive and hard to find).
A single malt whisky is a whisky that is made from a single distillery from malted barley. The whisky is then aged in various types of barrels (for example, ex-bourbon, sherry or port barrels). To achieve the final product, the distillery will then blend whisky from different barrels together and add water (to lower the ABV) before bottling.
A blended whisky is made from whiskies from multiple distilleries, which may be made from grains other than barley. The blender would generally mix a small amount of older, higher quality whisky with a large amount of low quality whisky to achieve the final product.
In the world of whisky, single malts are generally held up as the superior dram while blends are thought of as something to mix with coke. This is not the case with the whisky we are reviewing today - Nikka from the Barrel.
Nikka Whisky
Nikka was founded by Masataka Taketsuru, who was born in Japan, but then moved to Scotland to study and work at various distilleries. He later took that knowledge back to Japan where he helped Suntory set up a whisky distillery. He also married a Scottish girl, Jessie Roberta Cowan, and brought her back to Japan (if you'd like to learn more, see the
Nikka website; there is also a Japanese drama currently airing on NHK about Taketsuru called
Massan).
Taketsuru later set up his own distillery company in 1934 which became Nikka. Nikka currently has two distilleries, one in Yoichi (in Hokkaido) and another in Miyagikyo (in the Miyagi prefecture) which also produces various single malt whiskies.
Nikka from the Barrel
Although Nikka from the Barrel is a blended whisky, blended from various malt (barley) and grain whiskies, don't think this is your run-of-the-mill blend. Its stand-out feature is that its almost cask strength, meaning that it has not been diluted down with water. Cask strength whisky generally have more taste and more punch (this whisky has an ABV of 51.4%).
Before we get to tasting, I must say I really like the packaging and the bottle with its low key, Japanese minimalist aesthetic. The square bottle is almost like a high end bottle of perfume (Chanel No. 5) and stands in contrast to the typical bottle whiskies come in.
As usual, my tasting notes are set out below:
Smell
- From first sniff, you can tell this whisky packs a punch
- Caramel sauce
- Vanilla
- Crepe Suzette
Mouth Feel
Taste
- Immediate burst of summer berries and oranges
- Oak notes
- Caramel/toffee
- Orange and bitter dark chocolate
Finish
- The finish is long and much, much smoother than the alcohol level suggests
- Quite a complex aftertaste, particularly for a blend
- Hints of citrus, spice and salt/the seaside
Overall, I really enjoyed this whisky! It has a good balance of flavours and a nice kick to it.
As you can probably tell, I love Japanese whiskies and this is no exception. That said, good Japanese whiskies have become harder to find lately and have increased in price in Australia (try finding a reasonably priced bottle of Yamazaki 18). Taste aside, one of the best things about Nikka from the Barrel is that its readily available in most decent liquor shops and costs approximately $70. At that price, its one of the best value whiskies out there and well worth a try (though at 51.4% ABV, maybe not a whisky for the first-timer).
