The Dram Club - January 2022
We’re kind of crushing on Japanese whisky right now.
NIKKA WHISKY
SINGLE MALT
YOICHI
MASH BILL: 100% malted barley
NOSE: full-bodied and smooth with a mellow peat that evolves towards candied citrus fruit and spice
PALATE: peat, smoke, spices, fresh fruit and nuts
FINISH: long, silky, and extremely mature with depth, leather, and coastal freshness
WHY WE’RE EXCITED ABOUT THIS WHISKY:
If you haven’t dabbled in a glass of anything Nikka or Suntory, we highly recommend. These Japanese distilleries are responsible for crafting some of our favorite pours at the moment. We especially find they’re perfect for summer pours due to their lightness of the palate, and “crushable-ness” when added with club soda.
We’re excited to share The Yoichi with you because of it’s delicate balance of peat + light citrus. This bottle is an ideal go-to for those who seek a complex (yet balanced) pour, or those who are just beginning their scotch journey.
ERIC’S TAKE
The Dram Club is happy to present the iconic Nikka “Yoichi” Single Malt whiskey this quarter. We have introduced several Japanese whiskies to this club, and there is no better explanation as to WHY Japanese Whiskies make their way into a Scotch club than this bottle.
A quick introduction into Japanese Whiskey
Japan first experiments with whisky production in 1870
First commercial release in 1924 – Yamazaki distillery
More akin to Scotch whisky, but there is a variety
There are two key figures in Japanese Whisky’s history: Shinjiro Torri and Masataka Taketsuru. Torii began in pharmaceuticals but eventually founded a distillery, the precursor to Suntory. In the early 1920s, Torri hired Masataka Taketsuru as the distillery executive – Taketsuru had studied under experts in Scotland. After establishing Yamazaki distillery for Torri, Taketsuru left in 1934 to form his own company, Nikka. Taketsuru would go on to open the Yoichi distillery in Hokkaido province.
Throughout its history, Japanese whisky has had very loose laws – many imported spirits worked their way into blends labeled as Japanese Whisky, but it was the Single Malt from the Yoichi Distillery by Nikka – crafted by master blender Masataka Taketsuru, that put high-quality Japanese Whisky on the world stage. In 2021, legislation was passed in Japan giving more definitive parameters for what can be called Japanese Whisky in response to its rising popularity across the globe. This is great news for any Japanese Whisky enthusiast.
It was the 10-year Nikka Yoichi Single Malt winning “Best of the Best” in Whisky Magazine awards of 2001 that began the craze. Since its time in the spotlight, Japanese whisky has struggled to keep up with demand. In response, many producers opted to remove age statements for these iconic bottlings such as Yamazaki, Hakushu, and Nikka.
the dram
Appearance: Pale straw-yellow color with medium viscosity
The Nose: Precise – not overbearing but neither understated (it brings to mind the highly desirable descriptor “transparent” when discussing German wines. The nose is immaculately clean and piercing with hyper-focused notes. Toasted marshmallow, bruleed banana, vanilla are to the fore of apricot and ripe pear. Behind these sweeter tones shows the character and craft – hints of peat smoke come across as clove and ginger.
The Palate: The peat expresses itself more clearly with an almost Islay-like medicinal/antiseptic finish with traces of salinity (attributed to the proximity of Nikka’s distillery to the ocean). Citrus (candied orange peel, juicy grapefruit) and earthy floral tones mix with black pepper and traces of metallic minerality.
The Finish: Bright, intense focus that gives viscous weight to the structure and precision to the length
Overall, this is an excellent bottling that shows you the original inspiration of the tradition of Japanese Whisky. However, if you read most recent reviews of Nikka’s NAS (non-age-statement) single-malt bottlings, they lament the loss of “complexity” from the previously age-stated bottlings. Many of these reviewers will cite more allocated bottlings as being superior without actually offering insight on how this new NAS bottling stands up to the previous 10-year label, but if you dig through their other reviews you see this prejudice against NAS bottlings seemingly disappears in the context of other blenders like Compass Box or even Johnnie Walker. So what should we believe? Has Japanese Whisky producers “sold out” and declassified their iconic bottlings to compensate for demand? Should there be more transparency in what whiskies compose a bottle? (Producers like Compass Box and Bruichladdich have pushed this topic to the forefront of whisky discourse the last 5+ years. Even iconic producers like Glenrothes, who focuses on vintage bottlings, releases in their Reserve Collection special blends of multiple vintages yet laments that they cannot legally release the composition of the bottle on the label.) Or, is Japanese Whisky finally embracing a style that encapsulates their culture. Precision, intention, and authenticity are the first three words that come to mind to describe Nikka’s Yoichi Single Malt.