Two 80th-Anniversary Limited Edition ‘Taketsuru 21’ Releases

Post by Stefan Van Eycken, Tokyo

As our regular readers will know, 2014 marks the 80th anniversary of Nikka (they started their operations on July 2nd, 1934) as well as the 120th anniversary of the birth of Nikka-founder Masataka Taketsuru. Various things are in the pipeline to celebrate this special year and whisky enthusiasts have been keeping their eyes peeled for limited releases. Nikka has just announced the first of these celebratory releases… in fact, it’s a pair: a Port Wood Finished and Madeira Wood Finished version of the 21yo expression of their flagship ‘pure malt’ (i.e. blended malt’) whisky, ‘Taketsuru’.

The Port Wood Finish Taketsuru 21 will be exclusively available in Japan (but keep reading if you live in Europe!). It will be limited to 1,000 bottles – bottled at 46%abv – and will set you back about 20,000 yen. This edition goes on sale on April 30th. The Madeira Wood Finish Taketsuru 21 is an exclusive release for the European market, and that’s even more limited (500 bottles only). Suggested retail price is 280 euros. It’s probably best to keep an eye on La Maison du Whisky’s online shop the first days of July, because the plan is to start selling this on Nikka’s anniversary day.

These wood finishes come as a bit of a surprise in light of what chief blender Tadashi Sakuma said in this recent interview when asked about his thoughts on wood finishes: “[it] is something like decoration or makeup.” The unanimously positive response to the limited Sherry Wood Finish ‘Taketsuru NAS’ they released last year probably prompted Nikka to explore a few more types of secondary maturation. As Sakuma-san says, “from the aspect of sales and marketing, launching a ‘wood finish’ as a limited edition [is] effective to stimulate the market. Whisky professionals, both on-premise and off-premise, are always looking for something new and good stories to tell.”