Nikka Taketsuru 21 Year Old

Nikka Taketsuru 17 Year Old

Taketsuru San is a legend. He worked in Scotland during the early part of the 20th century at Longmorn and then at Hazelburn all the while carefully plotting a plan that would take the whisky world by storm. He went back to Japan armed with whisky making knowledge and a Scottish wife (of no relevance to this review by the way) and began work at...

Score 92/100

Nikka Taketsuru 17 Year Old

At risk of being considered heterodox, I have a pronounced preference for Japanese whiskies over their Scottish cousins. I admit this here not merely to disqualify myself from reviewing non-American whiskies, but to state my bias openly. The Japanese have a genius for imitation that transcends the derivative into a mystical realm of inspired...

Score 95/100

Nikka Taketsuru 12 Year Old

This pure malt (blended) whisky is named in honour of Masataka Taketsuru, the father of Japanese whisky. It is matured for 12 years at the Yoichi and Miyagikyo distilleries and blended. This is my first taste of a Japanese whisky and I am surprised how much it reminds me of a Speyside. It's colour is Golden amber and on the nose it is light and...

Score 79/100

Nikka Taketsuru Pure Malt

The craze for Japanese whisky is still in full swing, some blame Jim Murray's 2014 proclamation that Japanese Whisky was the best in the world as one of the catalysts for this state of affairs, as much as he at times deserves the bashing, we can't blame Sauron for everything. The reasons are myriad, a burgeoning interest in world whiskys, the rise...

Score 83/100