Nikka Yoichi 45 % Single Malt Japan

Nikka Yoichi 45 % is a strong Japanese whiskey with balanced smoky notes where the smoke comes first followed by walnut, dark chocolate and fresh melon.

Scent: Soft and full of smoke with candied citrus fruits, ginger and nuts
Taste: Balanced but powerful where the smoke comes first followed by walnut, dark chocolate and fresh melon.
Nikka Yoichi 45 % is made from malted barley and composed of single malt from different years and therefore no year.

About the Distillery:

Nikka was originally called Dai Nippon Kaju, which means "The Great Japan Juice Co.". The company was started by, among others, the famous Masataka Taketsuru, perhaps the most central figure in Japanese whisky. At Dai Nippon Kaju, the ambition was to make apple juice and they did that for a few years. But consumers weren't happy with the juice being cloudy (it wasn't trendy in 1930s Japan), so large quantities were sent back. In order not to waste this, it was decided to ferment and distill it into brandy.

Taketsuru had experience in spirits production, both from Scotland, where he apprenticed at Longmorn and Hazelburn. But also from Yamazaki in Japan, which he helped start about 10 years before. It wasn't long before they also started making whiskey. In 1952, seven years after they stopped making apple juice. The name was changed to Nikka Whiskey Co (a contraction of the old name).

Today, Nikka owns two whiskey distilleries, Yoichi in Hokkaido, where whiskey production started in 1936, and Miyagikyo near Sendai in Miyagi, built in 1968.

Yoichi is laid out almost like a small village with old stone houses. When buildings are demolished in the nearby village of Otaru, Nikka buys up the stones in case they have to renovate the historic buildings at Yoichi in the future. The whiskey produced here is relatively heavily smoked and a bit heavier than the style at Miyagikyo. Yoichi is one of the last distilleries in the world where the boilers are "direct fired" and every 8 minutes an employee has to shovel coal into the furnace under the boiler.