Nikka Frontier

Volume: 0.5 litres | Alcohol content: 48% | Chill filtration: No | Colouring: No

Special Features:

The blend has an unusually high malt content of at least 51%, with heavily peated malt from Yoichi as its key component. Peat and the traditional direct coal firing used there during distillation give this malt its powerful, smoky structure.

Nikka bottles Frontier at 48%, requiring less added water than the reduction to 40–43% commonly used for many whiskies. The whisky is also filtered at room temperature rather than after substantial cooling. This non-chill-filtered approach preserves more of its flavour-bearing compounds.

Frontier was created to mark Nikka’s 90th anniversary. One source of inspiration was the special whiskies that Nikka has supplied for Japanese Antarctic expeditions for more than half a century. Experience gained from their higher alcohol content and the absence of chill filtration helped shape the concept behind Frontier.

Tasting Notes:

• Nose: The nose combines aromas from cask maturation and marmalade-like fruitiness with pronounced malt and pleasant smoke.
• Palate: The whisky is smooth and full-bodied on the palate, where the sweetness of ripe fruit is contrasted by a subtle peat bitterness.
• Finish: The sweetness lingers into the finish, accompanied by soft oak.

Distillery/Bottler:

Nikka produces Frontier as an official bottling. The company traces its origins to Masataka Taketsuru, who travelled to Scotland in 1918, learned the craft of whisky production there and founded Nikka’s predecessor company in Yoichi in 1934. The Yoichi distillery on Hokkaido was Nikka’s first distillery, and its heavily peated malt is the key component of this blend.

Facts: