Unusually, it is bottled at near-cask strength (51.4% ABV), which is rather high for a Japanese whisky. The source of casks used is not reported, but I wouldn’t be surprised if some refill sherry ones found their way into the mix.<\/p>\n
This expression is a staple of the travel retail duty-free circuit. It wasn’t available in the U.S. until recently, because it comes in the non-standard 500mL bottle size (although I’ve also seen the humongous 3L size in my travels as well). The bottle is distinctive, with its squat and stubby appearance – it looks like something you would have found in a pre-1950s apothecary. Occasionally available at the LCBO and SAQ, it is readily available in BC ($64 CAD, plus taxes) and sporadically available in Alberta.<\/p>\n
Let’s see how it compares to other entry-level Japanese whiskies in my Meta-Critic database:<\/p>\n
Hibiki Harmony: 8.38 \u00b1 0.59 on 15 reviews ($$$$) As you can see above, Nikka FTB is a top-scorer for this category, scoring higher than even more expensive premium NAS expressions like Nikka Coffey Grain and Hibiki Harmony.\u00a0 My initial bottles came from travel duty free.<\/p>\n Here is what I find in the glass:<\/p>\n Nose:<\/strong> Brown sugar sweetness, with a bit of honey. Fruity, with apricots, plums (light and dark colored), red grapes and a good amount of banana. Caramel and vanilla. Cinnamon and a little all-spice. Some ethanol heat, but not bad for the ABV. No real off notes. Adding water brings up the vanilla and caramel (but oddly not the fruit).<\/p>\n Palate:<\/strong> Very creamy, with sweet caramel and toffee notes. Brown sugar again. Fruits are there, but seem a bit tart (and joined by some lemon citrus). Oakier than the nose suggested. Great mouthfeel, creamy and granular at the same time (i.e., creamed sugar). Packs a punch though – ethanol fumes come back at the end, so you will want to try this with a bit of water. Gets drier near the end of the palate. With water, you get some taming of the ethanol heat – but go lightly here, or you will also diminish the mouthfeel. If anything, it brings up the tartness more than the sweetness (which is unusual).<\/p>\n Finish:<\/strong>\u00a0 Medium. The sweet caramel note is there, with some lighter spices now (nutmeg). Some oaky bitterness shows up over time, persisting longer than the sweet notes. With water, I get a very faint hint of smoke.<\/p>\n It’s a great expression for the price, having garnered plenty of fans. Very positive are Dave of Whisky Advocate<\/a>,\u00a0 Nathan the Scotch Noob<\/a>, Thomas of Whisky Saga<\/a>, and Dramtastic of Japanese Whisky Review<\/a> (depending on the batch<\/a>). Indeed, almost all reviewers in my database give this expression an above-average score, except for a few like Jason of In Search of Elegance<\/a> and Ruben of Whisky Notes<\/a>. Certainly my top pick for NAS Japanese whiskies in retail travel duty free.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Another omission on my part – I recently realized that I had not reviewed this staple of the Nikka no-age-statment (NAS) line, Nikka Whisky From The Barrel. The occasion of opening my second bottle seemed like a good opportunity to plug this obvious hole in my review catalog. First thing to clear up is the rather odd name – this<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3243,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[33,32,18],"class_list":["post-3216","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-whiskies","tag-blended","tag-japanese","tag-nas"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/whiskyanalysis.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3216","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/whiskyanalysis.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/whiskyanalysis.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whiskyanalysis.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whiskyanalysis.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3216"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/whiskyanalysis.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3216\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6416,"href":"https:\/\/whiskyanalysis.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3216\/revisions\/6416"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whiskyanalysis.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3243"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/whiskyanalysis.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3216"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whiskyanalysis.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3216"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whiskyanalysis.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3216"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nKakubin (Suntory Whisky): 8.15 \u00b1 0.85 on 4 reviews ($$)
\nNikka All Malt: 8.45 \u00b1 0.16 on 8 reviews ($$)
\nNikka Coffey Grain: 8.59 \u00b1 0.49 on 15 reviews ($$$$)
\nNikka Coffey Malt: 8.80 \u00b1 0.44 on 9 reviews ($$$$)
\nNikka From the Barrel: 8.83 \u00b1 0.39 on 21 reviews ($$$)<\/strong>
\nNikka Pure Malt Black: 8.79 \u00b1 0.22 on 13 reviews ($$$)
\nNikka Pure Malt Red: 8.53 \u00b1 0.34 on 9 reviews ($$$)
\nNikka Pure Malt White: 8.65 \u00b1 0.32 on 12 reviews ($$$)
\nNikka Super: 8.00 \u00b1 0.49 on 7 reviews ($$$)
\nNikka Taketsuru NAS: 8.24 \u00b1 0.38 on 5 reviews ($$$$)
\nSuntory Old Whisky: 8.31 \u00b1 0.33 on 7 reviews ($$$)
\nSuntory Toki: 8.21 \u00b1 0.46 on 6 reviews ($$$)
\nWhite Oak Akashi Blended: 7.98 \u00b1 0.43 on 6 reviews ($$$)<\/p>\n![\"Nikka](\"http:\/\/whiskyanalysis.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/Nikka.FTB_.jpg\")
Frankly, I would not have immediately pegged this as a blend – it seems malt-heavy (although the higher strength may be contributing to that perception). This one really needs a little water (and I emphasize, little) to open up all the flavours and tame the ethanol burn.<\/p>\n