Saturday 20 May 2017

A Nikka Duet for World Whisky Day

Normally I drink and blog about Scottish Whisky but on occasions I have tried others drams including some from Ireland, Wales, Sweden, India and Japan. As it's World Whisky Day today I thought I'd try a couple of Japanese whiskys and let you know my thoughts!

Both of my drams are from the Nikka Whisky Company owned by Asahi who own a number of distilleries in Japan and the Ben Nevis distillery in Scotland..

The first is Whisky from the Barrel (WFTB) a blend of malt and grain whiskies bottled at 51.4% and sold in 50cl bottles.


The second is Pure Malt Black (PMB) another blend, this time of malt whiskies, bottled at 43% again in 50cl bottles.


These are both blended drams with a mixture of malt and in the case of WFTB grain whiskies from the Yoichi and Miyagikyo distilleries.


My drams were both sample swaps, the WFTB from @Mcfcivo100 and the PMB from @ThisIsMyDram - thanks to both of you!

Whisky From The Barrel and Pure Malt Black

Distillery : Nikka
Whisky : Whisky from the Barrel (NAS)
Characteristics : 500ml, 51.4% ABV.
Price : £38 widely available
Colour : Deep Gold - coloured
Nose : The room fills with the aroma of toffee as soon as you pour this dram into your glass, closer inspection reveals green apple and vanilla and over time a honey note develops.
Palate : Coffee instantly on the tongue followed quickly by walnuts - it's like an old coffee walnut whip (can you still get them?) the walnuts persist and is joined by vanilla notes and a lovely spicy cinnamon.
Finish : A long dry finish dominated by them walnuts and a little spice.
Water : As this is a 51.4% whisky I tried a little water, this introduced some citrus notes to the nose with a hint of pepper, on the palate the spice reduced slightly.
Overall : This is a lovely sipping whisky, where the strength is instantly recognisable but not dominating. A little water brings out some citrus but other than reducing the strength doesn't make too much difference to the whisky. A lovely dram, well worth trying!
Link : WFTB

Distillery : Nikka
Whisky : Pure Malt Black (NAS)
Characteristics : 500ml, 43% ABV.
Price : £46 widely available
Colour : Deep Gold - coloured
Nose : Not as strong as the WFTB and quite different - a malty chocolate aroma with a strong hint of peat smoke. Over time this develops into toffee and orange peel with a hint of vanilla.
Palate : A smooth dram on the tongue but with a slight alcohol burn (surprising as this is 43%, I didn't get any on the 51.4% WFTB) it's dominated by chocolate and a little treacle.
Finish : A medium length dry dark chocolate finish with a little spice and a hint of smoke..
Overall : This is one of a set of three 'coloured' Pure Malts - Red is fruity (like a Speyside), White is Peaty (like an Islay) and this one, the Black, is some where in between. There were definite hints of peat smoke buy I didn't get any fruit - plenty of chocolate though!. A lovely dram, probably my favourite of the two - again - well worth trying!
Link : PMB

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