Nikka Taketsuru Pure Malt
Masataka Taketsuru founded Nikka Whisky in 1934, fifteen years after traveling to Scotland to learn about whisky production. Nikka’s first distillery was in Yoichi and the company now owns seven distilleries. The Yoichi and Miyagikyo distilleries are where malt distilling takes place and the Nikka Taketsuru, named after the company’s founder, combines single malts from both locations. Nikka currently makes several No Age Statement kinds of whiskies around a similar price point, along with a few more expensive age statement whiskies.
Writers Tears
Originally created as a boutique blend in 2009, Writer’s Tears is a vatting of 60% single malt and 40% single pot stills, containing no grain except barley. In the subsequent decade, the whiskey has garnered various industry awards and mentions by luminaries such as Jim Murray and Ian Buxton. Writer’s Tears is likely a blend of whiskies from the Cooley and Midleton distilleries. There being only a handful of operating Irish distilleries, though more are in the works, it is quite normal for brands to source their whiskey to order and blend, finish or otherwise finish producing the final product. Like Canadian whisky, finding the source of the actual contents of the bottle can sometimes be challenging. Walsh Distillery began its own distillation in 2016, so we assume that as production continues and their house stock ages, the company’s portfolio will contain more of their own product.
Vicomte 8 Year
A decade or two ago, it might have seemed the very picture of strangeness to have the rise of French whiskies we’re seeing even though the country has long been a large consumer of scotch. The distillery itself is old but the company who owns it is based out of Florida, Venturi Brands. Unlike many current whisky companies, Vicomte and Venturi seem cloaked behind non-functioning websites and precious little information about the whisky beyond what is listed on the label. Though the Vicomte 8 Year was only released in 2015, so it remains to be seen whether it can break into the markets it desires. It is aged entirely in ex-Cognac barrels and the barley is from the Poitou-Charentes region.