Nikka From The Barrel

Nikka From The Barrel is a cask-strength blended Japanese whisky expression from Nikka, one of Japan’s largest spirits and alcoholic beverage producers. Founder Masataka Tatsekuru is credited with being a revolutionary figure who laid the foundations of the Japanese whisky industry.

From The Barrel is a shining jewel from Nikka’s inventory, rated exceptionally high both on the critical and commercial sales. It has been lauded as a rich, complex and masterful blend that has done wonders for Japanese whisky in the worldwide market.

History

Masataka Tatsekuru is said to have been born into a sake making family in Japan in 1894 in the city of Hiroshima. He grew up with a keen interest in the subject, majoring in brewing at the Osaka Technical School in the city of Osaka, moving further in his academic career by enrolling into the University of Glasgow to learn chemistry.

He accepted an apprenticeship at two different distilleries while in Scotland; the Longmorn Distillery at the Speyside and the Bo’ness under James Calder learning the art of malt and Coffey grain whisky at either places respectively.

Tatsekuru came back to Japan in 1920 having married Jessie Roberta Cowan, known widely as Rita Tatsekuru. He started working with the Kotobukiya Limited in 1923, which would go on to become Suntory, for 10 years.

After he left the Kotobukiya in 1934, Tatsekuru established the Yamazaki Distillery, Japan’s first whisky distillery and laid the foundations for his own company, Dai Nippon Kaju, the brand that would go on to become the Nikka whisky brand in 1952.

He built the Yoichi Distillery in 1936, and the first batch of Nikka Whisky was released in 1940, as the company witnessed steady success in the Japanese market.

In 1963 and 1966, the first and second Coffey stills from Scotland were imported by Nikka in order to augment their production of grain whisky.

The deaths of Rita in 1961, and Masataka in 1979 meant that their adopted son, Takeshi Tatsekuru was now in control of the business, which he guided to new heights, cementing the brand’s status as one of Japan’s largest whisky making companies.

Nikka From The Barrel was one of the company’s newest releases, and is one of the few cask strength releases in Japan that was met with raving reviews not just in the country, but also by whisky lovers worldwide.

Making Process

Nikka From The Barrel is a blended whisky, created by the combination of malt and grain whiskies with malt whiskies coming in from their Yoichi and Miyagiko Distilleries and grain whiskies supplied also by the Miyagiko Distillery.

The blended spirit is finished in a number of choice used barrels such as ex-Sherry barrels, ex-Bourbon barrels, re-charred and remade barrels that transform the whisky into a complex, flavourful drink.

Alcohol Percentage

Nikka From The Barrel is a cask strength whisky, carrying an alcohol strength of 51.4% ABV, considerably higher than the standard permissible limit for whiskies in most countries worldwide at 40% ABV.