If you’re a fan of Yoichi, and a slew of other Nikka whiskies, you had better stock up now because it looks like they’re about to disappear for the foreseeable future. According to a “Notice of final sales” email sent out to liquor stores in Japan Nikka has decided to discontinue a large number of their whiskies due to increased demand and a decrease in supply which has given rise to products like the Taketsuru NAS. Which is exactly the product they’re protecting per the email.
And, by aggregating commodity items by the end sales, whiskeys and stabilization of supply, to increase the production efficiency in order to increase the production of mainstay products such as “Taketsuru” (translated via Google)
Below is a list of NIkka whiskies that have been set for “final sale” and will be discontinued later this year. Many of which have also received a price increase to accompany the final sale notice per the article linked above (note 700ML = 750ml in the USA).
- Single Malt Yoichi ’20 (52% 700ml)
- Single Malt Yoichi ’15 (45% 700ml)
- Single Malt Yoichi ’12 (45% 700ml)
- Single Malt Yoichi ’10 (45% 700ml)
- Single Malt Yoichi ’10 (180ml 45%)
- Single Malt Yoichi (500ml 43%)
- Single Malt Yoichi (180ml 43%)
- Single malt Miyagi Gorges ’15 (45% 700ml)
- Single malt Miyagi Gorges ’12 (45% 700ml)
- Single malt Miyagi Gorges ’10 (45% 700ml)
- Single malt Miyagi Gorges ’10 (180ml 45%)
- Single malt Miyagi Gorges (500ml 43%)
- Taketsuru Pure Malt ’21 (180ml 43%)
- Taketsuru Pure Malt ’17 (180ml 43%)
- Pure Malt White (500ml 43%)
- Cranes ’17 (43% 700ml)
- Black Nikka Special (1920ml 42% hexagonal bottle)
- Black Nikka 8 years (700ml 40%)
- All malt (1920ml 40%)
- Malt Club (4L 40% PET bottles)
- Malt Club (2.7L 40% PET bottles)
- Malt Club (1920ml 40%)
- Malt Club (700ml 40%)
- Hainikka (4L 39% PET bottles)
- Hainikka (2.7L 39% PET bottles)
- Hainikka (1920ml 39% PET bottles)
- Hainikka (1920ml 39%)
- Hainikka (1440ml 39%)
- G & G White (750ml 43%)
- The blend (660m 45%)
- The blend Kobe (660ml 45%)
- Nikka Whisky Hakata (700ml 43%) or more. End sales with a shipment of 31 August 2015.
Basically it looks like the increasing practice of dropping age-statements in favor of NAS has reached Japan in a big way and it’s causing a big cut in what’s going to be available. Which you can expect to see affecting the secondary market as well pretty soon. I expect before the end of the year we’ll be seeing some of the bottles listed above going for outrageous sums in auctions and online trading sites.
Edit: Added in the bottle sizes being discontinued.
I recently, stumbled on an Amazing find in my area.
I came across, totally by accident, one bottle each of the Taketsuru Pure Malt 17 and 21.
I am not sure if I should even mention the purveyor LOL, but to give you a hint, it is a
a big-name chain in my area.
They were reasonably priced… well … Yes considering how great I know they are from my past experience, so I had to jump at the chance.
I have been reserving my last bottles of the very fine non-age statements from Yoichi and Miyagikyo
… but to celebrate I opened my one bottle of the 70cl French bottling of the Taketsuru 17… because now I have one more bottle! ;-) Hopefully as good as the French bottling …
Just to add: the Taketsuru 17 is a Sublimely-enhanced blend of the two distillery expressions … I would briefly summarize my notes on the 17 by saying the balance on the nose is superbly crafted in this blending, and the smoke on palate is excellently tempered for my taste.
I do recall preferring the lighter-smoke expression of the Miyagikyo**.
I really do not know if this surprise appearance is a fluke or if there is something “cooking” on the market. I did notice that these particular bottles, I found today, have a different importer and slightly edited back-label from a previous importer (Anchor Distilling)
** And to leave your with my final thoughts … this little gold-mine of a find makes me hope that maybe the Miyagikyo 12 and Yoichi 15 might make a surprise appearance
Cheers!
Wow, that’s pretty awesome! I haven’t heard any stirrings about it all coming back, but who knows. You could be right and that would be awesome. I miss that old hakashu!
Hmmm, definitely a potential concern – thanks for bringing this to our attention Josh.
I’ve become a big fan of Japanese whiskies in general, after a trip there last year (brought back a couple of nice bottles – looking forward to my next trip). There is even less available in Canada than the US, but I have managed to find the occasional bottle during my North American and European travels.
I encourage everyone to give whatever they can get their hands on a try. While its true a lot of it is the lower-end stuff (and a lot of NAS bottlings), they are still remarkably good. Nikka From the Barrel isn’t too hard to find here, and it’s quite nice (if you like a good Speyside-style malt whisky).
NIkka From the Barrel is ridiculously hard to find here and is the one I’ve been dying to try.
Used to be able to get it at the LCBO in Ontario, but haven’t seen in on their website for the better part of a year now (there is one outlet near me that used to stock all the Japanese expressions when they were available here). Picked up my last bottle of From the Barrel in BC a couple of months ago (and saw it in the airport shop in Calgary the month before). Seems to be more available out West in Canada these days!
Man that’s great. What little was still here disappeared from LA the second it was announced :/
Just because these age statements are beijg discontinued, doesnt mean we’ll never see any yoichi/miyagikyo again! I know its easy to jump onto panic stations, but its really not that bad.
They plan to release some different age statements/NAS lines soon so that we will still be able to find & enjoy yoichi/miyagikyo. They’ve just had to reshuffle the statements they’ve got due to the quantity of barrels of particular ages they have.
Look at how much they offer in Japan and how little they offer in America.
Obviously whisky from Japan has exploded in recent years but that aside, I don’t think it’ll be too big of an issue in the U.S. They’re cutting out so much “crap” they were producing and will be able to focus on better things.
The U.S. already has a limited selection so much it should be fine. Comparing Nikka Japan’s offerings to Nikka U.S.’s offerings is apples to oranges.
It is much smaller but the age-stated stuff is disappearing and the NAS stuff is staying. So a significant portion of what is available in the USA is going away.
“Single malt Miyagi Gorges ’15”
I’m pretty sure this is “Miyagikyo”, the well-known companion to Single Malt Yoichi. The Taketsuru Pure Malt 21 and 17 whiskies you listed to be discontinued are actually 180ml bottles as listed at the Japanese blog. The Taketsuru Pure Malt 25, 21, and 17 whiskies will still be sold as 700ml bottles. However, their prices will go up dramatically on September 1st.
Still, the disappearance of Yoichi and Miyagikyo is regrettable. I’ve purchased four bottles in the last week in a desperate attempt to keep my bar stock up for the next year or so…
Hey Will,
I updated with the sizes so it’s more clear. Thanks for reading and nice grab on the bottles. I have an extra of the 15 already, but that’s all I can find around me. Already searched all the stores that carry Japanese whisky around me and of the ones on their way out it’s the only one.
Cheers!