Review: Yoichi Single Malt
Yoichi Single Malt is a range of Japanese single malt whiskies from the Yoichi Distillery, Nikka’s first distillery built in 1934. The founder, Masataka Taketsuru, chose the town of Yoichi in Hokkaido – the second largest, northernmost of Japan’s main islands – because of the similar environmental conditions to Scotland, where he learned whisky-making.
The flagship expression from the Yoichi Distillery, Yoichi Single Malt, is an NAS (No Age Statement) whisky launched in 2016 as a permanent expression, when all Yoichi age stated expressions were discontinued due to a shortage of stocks. Yoichi 10 Year Old has since been relaunched in limited quantites and at a significantly higher price point, and older age stated expressions will likely return as the Yoichi Distillery’s stocks come of age.
Yoichi Single Malt is distilled from 100% malted barley in direct coal fired pot stills, using heavily peated malt, and is aged in new American oak and sherry casks and bottled at 45% ABV. Let’s dive in!
Yoichi Single Malt Specifications:
- Spirit: Japanese Whisky.
- Type: Single Malt.
- Age: NAS (No Age Statement).
- ABV: 45% (90 Proof).
- Cask: Matured in new American oak and sherry casks.
- Price Paid: N/A (Sample from a friend).
- Average Price: $89.99 for 750 mL.
Elias’ Notes:
- Color: Light gold.
- Nose: Light peat smoke and salinity intermingle with orange and lemon zest, cantaloupe, and other tropical fruit.
- Palate: Moderate mouthfeel with a slight creaminess. Opens with a light, earthy peat smoke and salinity, followed by coffee, toffee, lemon and orange zest, cantaloupe, and strawberries.
- Finish: Medium-long. The coffee and toffee notes from the palate fade first, leaving a lingering smoke and tropical fruit notes.
Yoichi Single Malt may not carry an age statement, but it doesn’t taste young. The peat plays nicely with the fruit notes and delivers a single malt with more complexity than I was expecting. A quick search indicates this bottle currently sells for around $90, and at that price, I’d consider it a better value than Yamazaki 12, Hibiki Harmony, and a number of other entry level Japanese whiskies.
Rating: B (83-86%).
2 Comments
Sounds good. Be curious to try this one. BTW-I’m a big fan of “letter” rating as it gives one a general range of you thought of the spirit. Specific tasting notes, while helpful, are very personal so the score acts as a guide to quality (for me anyway)
Thank you! I’ve always hated the 1-100 rating system. Most people don’t use anything below 60, and scoring can sometimes feel arbitrary. How does one decide between 71 vs 72, 83 vs 84, 94 vs 95, etc? Using a letter rating system that can also be attributed to a range of numbers is the way to go!