Nikka Miyagikyo Single Malt

Nose - red fruits, honey, vanilla, light pastry crust, a hint of soft younger oak, strawberries. Taste - banana, vanilla, toasted oak, some cream, and then the funky sherry wine note, very bitter. Miyagikyo brings the funky oak from the sherry really out with youthful spirit note and a lot of vanilla's and some new maker spirit elements. A bit of water seems to bring this one more to life, enhancing the sherry and pushing back some of that youth. Noticing some light peat notes here as well, I wasn't aware this is peated but if it is not, I'm way off and maybe I'll delete this review, but I'm getting more than a little peat. Perhaps the peat is some of the bitter notes I thought were from the sherry. This is an interesting effort from Nikka, while I do generally think there's quality here, it's just too young. The peat is not helping with the sherry. Honestly, i'd rather get more of the sweet nikka malt with sherry. I'm going 1.75 here, same score as the Yoichi though I'm more a peat guy so I'd buy the Yoichi again before this one. Neither are likely to be repeat buys unless I find them a bit more affordable.

Slight peat and nice balance, especially for a whiskey with no age statement. A slight medicinal note. But definitely a good general option