Nikka has declared its stocks healthy enough to reintroduce a much-loved age statement from its Miyagikyo distillery.
The Miyagikyo 10 Year Old single malt returns following the successful relaunch of the Yoichi 10 Year Old in 2022. Both age statements were withdrawn due to Nikka’s depleted stocks and replaced by non-age-statement (NAS) bottlings sold at a lower price ($89.99 for the Miyagikyo and $109.99 for the Yoichi).
Those NAS bottles remain in production alongside the blended From the Barrel and the Coffey series, with the two age statements now available as annual limited bottlings.
The Miyagikyo distillery was founded in 1969 by Masataka Taketsuru as a counterpoint to the already-established Yoichi. Its pot stills are heated by indirect steam — a contrast to the coal-fired stills that give Yoichi its heavier, oilier texture. (The site is also home to Nikka’s Coffey stills, which produce the company’s grain whisky.)
Miyagikyo is a lighter style than Yoichi, focusing on gentler notes of citrus fruit, owing partly to its maturation in new American oak and sherry casks.
The return of the Miyagikyo 10 Year Old to Nikka’s portfolio is part of a broader return to domestic whisky for the brand. In 2021, the Japan Spirits & Liqueurs Makers Association established what could and couldn’t be labeled Japanese whisky: any product containing whisky produced outside Japan no longer qualified.
This posed a problem for Nikka. Alongside its shortfall of mature stock, the company used Scotch whisky — including Ben Nevis — in blends like From the Barrel. Ben Nevis remains part of the popular blend, which is now classified as a world blend.
The Miyagikyo 10 Year Old’s forest-green bottle, finished with a small washi label, reflects the distillery’s woodland setting. It replaces the old rose-colored branding that nodded to the sherry aging.
The whisky is bottled at 45% ABV and priced at $174.99, with 1,572 bottles available in the US. That’s about $85 more than the NAS bottling that’s been on offer, and comparable in price to the Yamazaki 12 Year Old.
