Nikka – Japanese whisky with a Scottish heart

Japanese whisky is both celebrated and debated in equal measure in everything from eye-watering auction prices and astonishing quality to murky origins and a certain lack of transparency. A fair bit has changed in recent years, not least the tightening of regulations around what may actually be labelled “Japanese whisky”. So I thought it might be time to turn our attention to the Land of the Rising Sun, and to a producer many whisky lovers in Sweden will already know: Nikka.

This week I’ll share a bit about the company and the different styles of whisky it produces, and next week I’ll be tasting three different bottlings from Nikka.

It’s almost impossible to talk about Japanese whisky without, sooner or later, waffling on about Nikka Whisky. Not because Nikka is the largest, the most exclusive, or the most hyped, but because in many ways it forms something of a backbone in the story of Japanese whisky.

It all begins with a chap called Masataka Taketsuru. In 1918 he travelled to Scotland to study chemistry and the art of distillation, and there he encountered Scotch whisky culture first-hand. He learned the craft on site, kept meticulous notes, and returned to Japan armed not only with technical know-how but also with a deep respect for tradition. When he eventually founded Nikka in 1934, the ambition was clear: to make whisky the Scottish way, but on Japanese soil.

Yoichi Distillery

The first distillery was built in Yoichi, on Hokkaido. The climate was cool, coastal and rather rugged — close enough to Scotland to keep Taketsuru happy. Yoichi Distillery became something of Nikka’s backbone. To this day, whisky is produced here using coal-fired stills, a method that has all but disappeared in modern production. The result is whisky that often feels robust, occasionally with a gentle smoky edge.

Miyagikyo Distillery

But Nikka isn’t only Yoichi. When the company founded Miyagikyo Distillery in 1969, set in a green valley near Sendai, the house style broadened considerably. The climate here is milder, the surroundings more lush. Miyagikyo whiskies tend to be more elegant, fruit-driven and floral. Together, the two distilleries form a rather perfect duo — weight meeting lightness.

One thing that has historically set Japanese whisky apart from Scotch is the reluctance to trade stock between producers. Whereas Scottish distilleries have long operated within a shared ecosystem of ownership changes and blending practices — buying and selling both distilleries and spirit — Japanese producers have largely had to create their own diversity in-house. For Nikka, that has meant producing many different types of distillate from various still shapes, yeast strains and cask types, all in order to build complexity without relying on external sources.

And the whisky itself? Nikka From the Barrel is perhaps the best-known example: a powerful blend, bottled at a higher strength, where Yoichi’s sturdier character meets the softer side of Miyagikyo (and if memory serves, there’s also a splash of Scottish whisky from Ben Nevis in there — so let’s not get too romantic about it). Personally, I’m rather fond of Nikka From the Barrel; it delivers consistently good, well-composed flavour at a sensible price.

There are also single malts from both Yoichi and Miyagikyo that clearly demonstrate just how different the two distilleries’ styles are, despite sharing ownership. Beyond that, there are the Coffey bottlings, distilled in Coffey stills (column stills named after a chap called Coffey, and absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with coffee).

Today, Nikka is owned by Asahi Group and forms part of a global whisky industry that looks very different from the one Masataka Taketsuru once stepped into. Japanese whisky is now an established — and at times somewhat overloaded — term, not least because recent years have forced the introduction of clearer rules about what may be labelled “Japanese whisky” in order to protect both quality and meaning. In that landscape, Nikka appears steady and more firmly rooted in craftsmanship than some newer brands whose origins are, shall we say, a touch more questionable.