Belonging to a family that had made sake (distilled from rice) since 1733, Masataka Taketsuru is considered to be the father of Japanese whisky. In 1918 he set out for Scotland intending to get to know the secrets of malt and, two years later, he returned to Japan, married to a Scottish lady. He had become a true master distiller and in 1934 established his own distillery, Yoichi, on the northern island of Hokkaido. To his mind, this was a paradise location for producing whisky, as in many respects it resembled the place in Scotland where he had studied, surrounded by sea and mountains. So that is how Yoichi whiskies came to be known as single malts from the Japanese "Highlands" (and those from Miyagikyo as "Lowlands" whiskies).
Nikka Yoichi 10, like others produced on this island, displays a distinctive character, due both to using new oak in the barrels and also to the natural carbon still used in the distillation process, following a traditional method rarely employed today, not even in Scotland.
