Welcome back to another excellent tasting of two drams, where I get to sip them side-by-side, compare the slight differences between them, take down these notes in real-time, then pick a favourite and hopefully learn something new along the way. Won’t you join me on this journey? Up for a tasting are two Japanese blended whiskies: the Tokinoka Black by White Oak Distillery, which I got from the Japanese Whisky Advent Calendar (from behind door number 3), and the Nikka Whiksy From The Barrel by Nikka Distillery, which I’ve tasted before and compared against Nikka Days, and got another 30cl sample just for this particular tasting. So let’s kick this off, but first, we need music! Now playing: fatalism – Gh0st.

I have to admit, I’m slightly hesitant about this tasting because I’m not a fan of blended whiskies, mostly because of the added grain alcohol, which feels pretty harsh to me. On top of this, these two blends are bottled at a pretty high percentage, so I’ll definitely be adding some water to see how they open up. The Tokinoka Black comes in at 50% ABV. White Oak is located in Akashi and is owned by Eigashima Shuzo, which is the first licensed whisky maker in Japan (also producing sake and shochu, as well as Akashi whisky). This blend was created by Master Blender Akito Ueda, as a mix of 50% malt whisky and 50% grain whisky, which then been aged in three different casks, ex-bourbon, Xeres and virgin oak, before vatted and bottled. It’s got added colouring, so we’ll ignore the description. It’s not as rough on the palate as I initially expected, but the slight bitterness of grain whisky is definitely there, albeit slightly aged. The Nikka From The Barrel is a little bit stronger, coming in at 51.4% ABV. It’s also coloured and chill-filtered, of course, and my previous research also concluded that it does not meet all the criteria of “Japanese whisky”, which means that there could be some real Scotch in there (from Ben Nevis distillery, owned by Nikka and imported from Scotland). This blended whisky has also been blended before it was aged in casks, this time in an unspecified type of wood (for an unspecified amount of time). It’s slightly sweeter and possibly younger tasting while also just a tiny bit bitter on the edges with that rough grain. As you can see, there are not many details from both makers, with plenty of facts undisclosed – such is the case with many blended whiskies, but not all! I suppose I’ll have only my taste buds to rely on.

I know that the Japanese drink plenty of highballs (I’ve even seen a guy mix Macallan 18 and Yamazaki 18 with soda!), so I will go ahead and drop a generous amount of water into these two (about a capful) to let them open up. I’m pretty sure that the high ABV on these whisky blends is designed just for that – a more common practice, at least in the UK, is to bottle the blends at a very low ABV of 40%. I believe that Compass Box does a much better job at transparency and delivery of their product. So now, with water, let’s see how they compare. The Tokinora Black went down easy – it’s smooth and sweet in all the right places, except, again, where grain shows up. And now the Nikka From The Barrel feels a little sharper and more complex, with hints of older wood [that old-school style] and then, again, the grainy scrape. Let’s go in for the final sip, and then I’ll try and draw conclusions. The Tokinoka Black is definitely sweeter, fruitier, and rounder. I now taste bananas and stewed plums, and all those flavours are beneath a smoother delivery, like a flattened-out sheet of cardboard. Whereas the Nikka From The Barrel is tighter, more complex, and oakey. That same sheet of cardboard is now crumpled, with slightly jarring edges, and I’m riding the waves of these angles in search of more flavour, but it’s just pretty monolithic and concise. Does any of this make sense? It’s the only stark difference that I can find between them. Okay, maybe the Tokinoka Black is £10 quid more, and that may make a difference in your case.

Name / Style	Tokinoka Black / Blended Whisky	Nikka From The Barrel / Blended Whisky
Distillery / Region	White Oak / Japan	Nikka / Japan
Stated Age / Vintage	NAS	NAS
Cask type	Ex-bourbon, Xeres and virgin oak	Undisclosed
ABV / Cask Strength	50.0% / No	51.4% / No
Non-chill filtered/ Uncoloured	No / No	No / No
Price	£55 for 50cl	£45 for 50 cl
Did it win? / Did I like it?	Yes, but barely / Eh… not my thing	No / Not really
Would I buy it? / Recommend it?	No / No – so many better single malts	No / No – why drink rough grain?

So there you have it, folks, another interesting tasting. I wouldn’t say that either blended whisky really stood out here and impressed my senses enough to go out and grab a bottle for my shelves. I’d like to wait and see how the new regulation in Japan plays out and whether or not the profile of the Nikka changes as a result (they’ll either have to remove the term “Japanese whisky” from their label or they’ll have to use only whisky produced in Japan). I think that at the very end, I appreciated the fruitiness of the Tokinoka Black, which came from a selection of better-chosen ex-bourbon barrels. I also feel that there is a big market out there for “oakey” flavoured whisky, but that’s not for me. So, with that said, I’ll pause here and proclaim the White Oak Tokinoka Black as the winner of this round. I’m looking forward to exploring other expressions by this distillery. I really hope there will be more.

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p.s. I am not sure if White Oak Tokinoka Black qualifies to be called “Japanese Whisky” as per the new definition of the term by the Japan Spirits & Liqueur Makers Association. I would expect it to be, given that Eigashama was one of the first licensed distilleries in Japan… but you never know. It’s all very confusing there. Eigashama is owned by Shin Group Corp, which, I believe, also owns Wolfburn.