REVIEWED: Nikka Whisky From The Barrel

It was a rare, crystal-clear Seattle January night. The Games For Billionaires staff was lounging in the GFBplex, high above downtown, overlooking the majestic Puget Sound. We randomly picked whiskys for each of us to review, and I was tasked with reviewing Nikka's Whisky From the Barrel. That was a good thing. My coworkers were just drinking, or maybe they were working too, I'm not sure.

The first thing you notice is the completely non-descript bottle. No frills, purely functional. Did they pay someone a lot of money to make such a minimalist bottle, or did it just happen that way? Who knows? Jeans with holes, or shirts that look weatherbeaten are very expensive. It costs a lot of money to make some things look cheap. But that little screw-top cap....that thing is cheap for real. Don't press too tightly as you remove it, it looks like can easily break it. So how good could this possibly be?

The cap is safely off. You expect a strong, cheap, medicinal smell, but you get surprising complexity. Flowers, fruit, butter. Full. The taste is like jalapeno-covered butter biscuits coated in wine with a hint of oak. The finish burns a little, but I like the spiciness. It's a great value for the modest price and you can find it sometimes in Japanese convenience stores. Unpretentious, but delivers much more than you expect. I gave it an 8.5/10.

Nikka has two distilleries in Japan, one on the island of Hokkaido and one in northern Honshu (the main island). Grain whisky from one is blended with aged malt whisky from the other and re-casked and then aged in order to make Whisky From the Barrel. It's not commonly available everywhere, but you can order it online. Usually www.masterofmalt.com has it. You will probably like it more than other much more expensive whiskys.

Cheers from Seattle!
Yukari.