Greetings!

The 2013 Drammie nominations are rolling in. So far we have well over 100 nominations, from WhiskeyLovers in six different countries. Don’t miss your chance to be heard:

Tell the whiskey industry what you think. Enter your nominations for the 2013 Drammie Awards : The Voice of the Whiskey Consumer.

And speaking of great whiskies and far off lands, this week’s featured whisky is a case in point: Nikka 15 YO Yoichi Single Malt Whisky

Masataka Taketsuru was born in 1894 in the coastal town of Takehara (now Takehara City) about 60km from Hiroshima City. The Taketsuru family owned a sake (Japanese brew made from fermented rice) brewery that goes back to 1733 – and continues to produce fine sake today.

Taught early that sake making is a painstaking fine art, Masataka studied diligently and trained at university as a chemist, preparing to carry on the family trade.

However, Scotch whisky captured the young man’s imagination, as well as the interest of few other enterprising Japanese of that day. So he decided to dedicate his life to whisky.

In 1918, Masataka Taketsuru embarked alone on a long voyage to Scotland where he enrolled at the University of Glasgow and became the first Japanese ever to study the art of whisky making. He took chemistry courses at the university and apprenticed at distilleries, learning first-hand from craftsmen and receiving training as a blender. Masataka would later become known as a master blender.

In 1920 Masataka returned to Japan with Jessie Roberta (Rita), whom he had married earlier that year. Later joining a company that aspired to make genuine whisky, he succeeded under its employment in producing Japan’s first whisky, and is considered to be the Father of the Japanese Whisky Industry.

Masataka’s vision of whisky was formed by his experience in Scotland, and he knew that the right environment was essential. However, it was becoming apparent that in order to produce whisky as he felt it had to be, he would have to become independent.

Thus in 1934 Masataka established Nikka Whisky, and built its first distillery in Yoichi, Hokkaido, where – though inconveniently located – he had always considered to be the ideal site in Japan for whisky-making, similar in many ways to the Scottish town where he had studied.

To learn more about the Yoichi & Miyagikyo distilleries started by Masataka Taketsuru, click here.

Nikka 15 Y0 Yoichi Single Malt, produced at the Yoichi Distillery, conveys strength, softness and delicacy. The single malt whisky is stored and matured for 15 years or more, and is characterized by its mature and ample nose and smooth, silky palate.

This is really an exceptional whisky.

Jim Murray (of Whisky Bible fame) described it as “Sheer brilliance. An absolute must for anyone who regards himself a whisky connoisseur.”

And so it’s with great excitement that we are able to offer you the opportunity to purchase a bottle of Nikka 15 YO Yoichi Single Malt Whisky for $117/ bottle.

Until next week…I wish you high spirits!

Doug Stone
Founder
ForWhiskeyLovers.com

NIKKA 15 YO YOICHI SINGLE MALT WHISKY

NIKKA 15YO YOICHI SINGLE MALT TASTING NOTES –

Courtesy of Jim Murray/ Whiskey Magazine Issue 13

Nose: Lychees and sweet white grape.

Palate: Immediately sweet with a slow implosion of peat that seems to arise from nowhere.

Finish: Long, lingering, massive malt frame.

Comment: Sheer brilliance. An absolute must for anyone who regards himself a whisky connoisseur. 9.25/10