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Nikka From the Barrel 51.4%

Nikka From the Barrel 51.4%

$65.99

This whisky was featured on Day 21 of our 2024 KWM Not An Advent Calendar Tastings! You can read more about the whisky here.

Note: Nikka's own website notes that this bottle does not meet the criteria to be called a Japanese Whisky. The good news is that might mean it also contain Ben Nevis Single Malt, as Scotland's Ben Nevis Distillery is also owned by Nikka.

Nikka's venerated from the Barrel has been a staple of our whisky shelves for years and will hopefully remain so. This creation from Nikka is a blend of grain and malt from multiple distilleries owned by the company. It is always bottled at 51.4% ABV after the components are married in refill casks for up to half a year to marry together and become a cohesive whole.

500mL bottle.

From the Producer: “Produced from a blend of Miyagikyo and Yoichi single malts and a single grain whisky, NIKKA FROM THE BARREL embodies the expertise of the distillery’s master blenders. Intense, round, and generous, this ambitious, powerful, controlled, high-alcohol blend is acknowledged for its originality. This is a bold whisky. It seizes you and seduces you. It asserts its own style.

500 ml
Region:Japan > World
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Evan’s Tasting Note

Nose: Milk chocolate, black coffee, peaches and cream, dates, blackberries, and a touch of molasses.

Palate: Creamy and chocolate driven with a touch of spice and smoke. More blackberry and coffee notes along with rich caramel, apple strudel and nougat.

Finish: Silky smooth. More milk chocolate, plus demerara sugar with a touch of warming ginger and spice on the soft and clean fade.

Comment: Elegance is the name of the game here. Regardless of what is Japanese and what is not Japanese in this whisky, it is a silky smooth and dangerously drinkable dram — even at 51.4%.

Producer’s Tasting Note

Nose: refined, complex. Floral (lilac), fruity (apricot). Notes of spice (cloves) and leather. 

Palate: firm, powerful. Spicy (pepper). Woody (oak). Evolves with ripe fruits (peaches), caramelised apples and flowers (honeysuckle). 

Overall: long. Marine notes. Ripe fruit (plums, peaches) on a background of woody-vanilla notes.“

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