We have tasted Japanese whisky before, at a trade
tasting, but we were very excited when we received an invitation to a tutored
tasting of Nikka, the first whisky to be produced in Japan. It was held last
week in the presence of The Japanese Consulate Head of Mission, His Excellency,
Mr Mitsuru Murase, at Kyoto Gardens restaurant at 11 Kloof Nek Road
In 1918,
Masataka Taketsuru, whose family had been making fine sake since 1733, went to
visit whisky refineries in Scotland to learn the secret of making Scotch whisky,
which had captivated him. He studied at The university of Glasgow, the first
Japanese ever to study the art of making whisky. He continued to work in the
industry as an apprentice. He married his Scottish wife Jessie Roberta (Rita)
and returned to Japan in 1920. In 1934 Masataka established Nikka Whisky, and
built its first distillery in Yoichi, Hokkaido, and he eventually became a
master blender
No one wants to do a
whisky tasting and then drive, so we took the MyCiti Bus. The stop is at the
bottom of our road. The trip, with one quick platform change in Adderley Street, took less than half an hour and it was in rush hour traffic
Kyoto Garden has
whiskies from Suntory, who made the first Japanese whisky in 1924, but we
didn't get to taste these
Taygan Govinden with whisky presenter and writer Bernard Gutman
The amber light of
whisky
The line up. We started
with the 2 single malts: Miyagikyo full of caramel, apricots and smoke with a
soft vanilla honey perfume, pears and some salt. And the Yoichi NAS - Peat
moss, herbaceous with red apple and caramel notes, a hot chilli tingle on the
tongue and then toffee with cream. Both extremely pleasant and worth drinking.
But not with too much water
The Japanese Consulate
Head of Mission is His Excellency, Mr Mitsuru Murase, who gave the opening address
Whisky fundi Hector
McBeth, a South African of Scottish descent, took us through the tasting and
explained the whiskies to us, and showed us how to taste them, and how the
Japanese, who are very fond of Scotch whisky, prefer to drink them. They add
water and ice from a glacier, which sings in the glass. Sadly, we found that
this seems to soften it a lot and, for us, it takes a lot of the flavour out of
the whisky and it loses its alcohol heat, but that is the way they prefer it. The
next was the Nikki Pure Malt Black - a blend of malts. Floral peaches and
apricots with smoke and expensive wood notes. An oily glycerol mouthful , smoky
bacon and tangerine fruit tingle that softens, with water, to peach juice. Then
Nikka Coffey Grain, made with corn like a Bourbon had drum and burnt caramel
and raisin on the nose, and Christmas pudding and caramel toffee on the palate.
With water it turns to caramel milk chocolate like a Curly Whirly with whiffs
of smoke
Japanese liqueurs and sake behind the sushi counter
The sushi chef, Koshi Koyama, who has been with Scott Wood for 20 years, is a consummate expert at what he does
Saidi and his team in the kitchen, very important people
Some sashimi to cleanse
our palates after the tasting, served with a clear sake, which had anise notes, rather like a pastis
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