New bottling of Taketsuru 35

A new limited-edition bottling of Nikka Whisky's pure malt Taketsuru 35-year-old will be available from Dec 1.

There will be a total of 1,000 750 ml bottles available and 50 of those will be available from the Nikka online shop from 10 a.m. on the launch date.

A tasting will be hosted by Nikka's chief blender Tetsuji Hisamitsu at the Blender's Bar in Tokyo from 7.30 pm on Dec. 1. A 30ml glass of the new offering will cost 4,000 yen (compared to the normal 5,000 yen). There is no entry fee. You need to book by telephoning the Blender's Bar, because seats will be limited (03-3498-3338).

I had the very good fortune to try some of the last bottling of Taketsuru 35 when some of Nikka's top brass were entertaining a visiting group from Europe back in 2008, an event which which I rather embarrassingly gatecrashed. The whisky almost made the embarrassment worthwhile. I didn't take a tasting note, but it was absolutely superb.