Product description
Nikka Tsuru is most likely a nod to one of the pioneers of Japanese whisky, Masataka Taketsuru (“Tsuru” means “crane” in Japanese and if you look closely you can see it on the ceramic bottle).
In 1918, Masataka went to Scotland to study chemistry at the University of Glasgow. However, he could not resist the charm of the country and the magic of whisky, the secrets of which he learned at the Hazelburn and Longmorn distilleries. After returning to Japan, he worked with Shinjiro Torii, and in 1934 he built his first distillery, Yoichi, on the island of Hokkaido, the second being Sendai (now Miyagikyo), built in 1969. The Tsuru 17 years old presented here is a blended whisky made from single malts from the aforementioned distilleries and the company's own single grain whisky, currently distilled in Miyagikyo, and previously in Nishinomiya. In 2008 and 2015, Tsuru 17 was recognized as the best Japanese blended whisky by the editors of "Whisky Magazine".
Aroma : delicate and elegant, peaches, apples, plums, acacia honey, vanilla, toffee, mocha, cinnamon, cloves, notes of tobacco and leather, traces of peat and toasted oak.
Palate: slightly oily, notes of sherry, raisins, dried apricots and dates, oranges, honey, toffee, milk chocolate, cinnamon, a pinch of white pepper and a trace of pipe tobacco.
Finish : quite long, with notes of toffee, nuts, dried fruit, cinnamon, nutmeg, oak and a bit of peat.