The Nikka All Malt is not a whisky that ever grabbed my attention. I ordered a sample from Master of Malt because the whisky is noted in Ian Buxton’s ‘101 whiskies to try before you die’.
The funny thing of this whisky is that it is not really a blend and not really a blended malt. It is made with Yoichi and Miyagikyo whiskies, and a malt whisky produced in a Coffey still. Because of that still type it is not a single malt, but not a blend, since it is not really made with grain whisky.
Nose:
COCONUT, COCONUT, COCONUT, I feel like Donkey Kong getting hammered! There is also some milkyness, lemon and very light vanilla. All of that is overpowered by the coconut, or did I mention that already?
Taste:
The taste is very smooth and creamy. There is some cereal flavour too. After a while the taste becomes a bit cardboardy. Also, the taste is rather predictable with all those standard bourbon cask flavours showing up.
Finish:
The vanilla and cream is present again. The coconut is still here but less prominent than in the nose. The finish doesn’t last very long.
This is a pretty reasonable whisky, nothing wrong with it but it is rather simple. The coconut on the nose was a heavy hitter but after that, nothing exciting or unexpected happened.
Nikka All Malt, 40%, +/- 30 euros, available at Master of Malt.
Nose: 5
Taste: 4
Finish: 4
Overall experience: 4
Price/Quality: +2
Total: 19 points
Malt Fascination 
made in a cofeystill, so no single malt? That’s new to me….
Going to check that one… Never too old to learn…
Hmm, helemaal top; weer iets geleerd:
Van de site van de Scotch Whisky Association:
“(a) Single Malt Scotch Whisky: A Scotch Whisky distilled at a single distillery,
from water and malted barley without the addition of any other cereals, and
by batch distillation in pot stills.”
Yep, the shape of the still is just as important as the type of grain used for ‘validating’ for Single Malt labelling…