🥃🥃 Tasting Notes
Appearance:
Rich amber with polished copper and golden highlights, displaying the depth expected from a blend of malt whiskies matured for at least 17 years.
Aroma:
Elegant and beautifully mature, opening with ripe orchard fruit, dried apricot, honey, and vanilla. Malted barley and toasted oak emerge underneath, followed by subtle citrus, baking spice, nuts, and a restrained touch of smoke.
Palate:
Silky, mature, and exceptionally well integrated:
Ripe apple introduces fresh orchard-fruit sweetness
Apricot contributes a richer stone-fruit character
Dried fruit provides concentrated maturity
Honey adds a soft, rounded sweetness
Vanilla contributes elegance and balance
Malted barley gives the whisky impressive body
Toasted nuts add richness through the mid-palate
Orange and citrus peel provide brightness
Dark chocolate introduces bittersweet complexity
Baking spice develops gradually alongside seasoned oak
Yoichi malt contributes structure and gentle peat
Miyagikyo malt adds elegance, fruit, and softness
Seventeen years of maturation creates a remarkably integrated mouthfeel
The 43% ABV presentation keeps the whisky refined and approachable
Finish:
Long, elegant, and beautifully balanced, with lingering dark chocolate, dried fruit, malt, oak, gentle spice, and restrained peat smoke. Sweet fruit gradually transitions toward bittersweet chocolate and mature wood, leaving a sophisticated and persistent finish.
With its 17-year age statement, combination of Yoichi and Miyagikyo malt whiskies, four World’s Best Blended Malt titles, and discontinued status, Nikka Taketsuru 17 Year Pure Malt has become one of the most desirable expressions from Nikka’s historic age-stated range.
For collectors of Nikka, discontinued Japanese whisky, age-stated Taketsuru, Yoichi, and Miyagikyo, this bottle represents an increasingly rare opportunity to experience the depth of mature stocks that helped establish Japanese whisky’s reputation around the world.
Description
Nikka Taketsuru 17 Year Pure Malt Japanese Whisky (750mL) — Discontinued 17-Year Japanese Blended Malt | Four-Time World’s Best Blended Malt
Discover one of the most celebrated discontinued expressions in Japanese whisky with Nikka Taketsuru 17 Year Pure Malt Japanese Whisky. Named in honor of Masataka Taketsuru, founder of Nikka and one of the pioneering figures of Japanese whisky, this prestigious 17-year-old expression brings together mature malt whiskies from Nikka’s legendary Yoichi and Miyagikyo distilleries.
Rather than being a single malt from one distillery, Taketsuru 17 is a Pure Malt—or blended malt—whisky, created entirely from malt whiskies without grain whisky. Nikka’s blending team combines the contrasting personalities of its two distilleries: the robust, structured, subtly smoky character associated with Yoichi and the elegant, fruity, floral character of Miyagikyo.
Every component in the blend has matured for at least 17 years, giving the whisky an impressive combination of mature fruit, honeyed malt, vanilla, chocolate, gentle peat, spice, and beautifully integrated oak.
Its quality earned extraordinary international recognition. Taketsuru 17 Year was named World’s Best Blended Malt Whisky at the World Whiskies Awards four separate times—in 2012, 2014, 2015, and 2018.
Nikka ultimately discontinued Taketsuru 17 Year in 2020 amid increasingly limited inventories of sufficiently mature Japanese whisky. With no current production replacing the age-stated 17 Year, surviving bottles have become increasingly desirable among collectors and enthusiasts seeking older Nikka expressions.
🥃 Product Details
Type: Blended Malt Japanese Whisky / Pure Malt
Producer: Nikka Whisky
Expression: Taketsuru Pure Malt 17 Years Old
Named After: Masataka Taketsuru
Country: Japan
Distilleries: Yoichi & Miyagikyo
Bottle Size: 750mL
Age: 17 Years
Minimum Maturation: 17 Years
Composition: 100% Malt Whisky
ABV: 43%
Proof: 86 Proof
Status: Discontinued
Discontinued: 2020
Style: Mature, Fruity, Malty, Gently Smoky & Complex
Major Award: World’s Best Blended Malt Whisky – World Whiskies Awards
WWA Wins: 2012, 2014, 2015 & 2018
Character: Orchard Fruit, Dried Fruit, Honey, Vanilla, Malt, Dark Chocolate, Spice, Oak & Gentle Peat
🍽️ How to Enjoy
With 17 years of maturation and a beautifully integrated profile, Taketsuru 17 is best enjoyed slowly:
- Sip neat from a Japanese whisky glass or Glencairn
- Allow 10–15 minutes to open before tasting
- Enjoy at room temperature to appreciate its mature fruit and malt character
- Add only a few drops of water to reveal additional fruit and sweetness
- Avoid excessive ice when tasting this increasingly rare discontinued expression
- Pair with dark chocolate or chocolate truffles
- Excellent alongside roasted almonds or hazelnuts
- Pair with dried apricots, figs, or other dried fruit
- Enjoy with aged Japanese or European cheeses
- Excellent as an after-dinner contemplative whisky
- Taste alongside Taketsuru 21 Year for an exceptional age-stated Nikka comparison
- Preserve unopened bottles carefully as part of a Japanese whisky collection
⭐ Why You'll Love It
- Authentic 17-year-old Japanese blended malt whisky
- Every whisky in the blend is matured for at least 17 years
- Combines malt whisky from both Yoichi and Miyagikyo
- Made entirely from malt whisky with no grain whisky
- Named after legendary Nikka founder Masataka Taketsuru
- Combines Yoichi’s robust character with Miyagikyo’s elegance
- Bottled at a refined 86 Proof
- Rich balance of mature fruit, malt, oak, chocolate, and gentle peat
- Discontinued by Nikka in 2020
- Increasingly scarce on the secondary and collector market
- Part of Nikka’s celebrated discontinued age-stated Taketsuru range
- Four-time World’s Best Blended Malt Whisky
- World Whiskies Awards winner in 2012
- World Whiskies Awards winner in 2014
- World Whiskies Awards winner in 2015
- World Whiskies Awards winner in 2018
- Highly desirable for serious Japanese whisky collectors
- An outstanding example of Nikka’s blending expertise
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