Nikka Miyagikyo Single Malt

Volume: 0.7 litres | Alcohol content: 45% | Chill filtration: Yes | Colouring: Yes

Special Features:

Miyagikyo Single Malt combines the distillery’s fruity, floral style with a pronounced influence from former sherry casks. Maturation focuses on these casks, which give the whisky additional depth. It is made with less heavily peated malt than at its sister distillery, Yoichi, and distilled in indirectly steam-heated pot stills.

Alongside flowers and exotic fruit, this whisky displays spicy, waxy and lightly smoky facets. It is bottled at 45% alcohol in a 0.7-litre bottle and comes in gift packaging.

Tasting Notes:

• Nose: The intense nose opens with concentrated iris notes. Malt, banana, liquorice and camphor then unfold. Burnt wood and ash gradually overlay these aromas, before white flowers and beeswax emerge later.
• Palate: The whisky feels firm and lively on the palate. Malt forms the core, accompanied by herbs, liquorice, ginger, cinnamon and chocolate. Fresh tobacco leaves and coconut emerge towards the end.
• Finish: The long, soft finish recalls faded roses. Fine tannins balance the zesty notes of lemon and grapefruit. Tobacco, cardamom, ginger, toasted nuts, and apple and plum compote linger. Lychee appears in the final aromas.

Distillery/Bottler:

Masataka Taketsuru founded Miyagikyo in 1969 as Nikka’s second distillery. The wooded valley near Sendai, where two clear streams meet, was intended to provide a contrast to Yoichi’s coastal location. Taketsuru chose the site after tasting whisky he had diluted with water from the Nikkawa.

The different working methods of the two distilleries continue this contrast. While Yoichi uses direct-fired stills, Miyagikyo distils slowly with indirect steam heating at around 130 °C. The bulbous shape of its pot stills and their upward-sloping connecting pipes encourage reflux of vapour components. This design and gentle heating shape the soft, elegant style of the spirit.

Facts: