Nikka Yoichi 10 Year Old Single Malt Review

By Richard Thomas

Rating: B+

For the last decade or so, I’ve looked askance at many of my colleagues for beating the yellow journalism drum of “bourbon shortage.” Yes, products made by Buffalo Trace have become unicorns, one by one, but that phenomenon is limited to just them. The moment of inconvenience, not crisis, came and went for everyone else. What made all this bourbon shortage nonsense even more shameless was how there are recent events reminding anyone with a memory just what a whiskey shortage looks like.

First was 2011-12 rye shortage, which came about when interest in drinking neat rye whiskey intersected with the trend for pre-Prohibition cocktail recipes. That briefly wiped even mass market products like Old Overholt off of shelves in some areas, and Wild Turkey was forced to temporarily discontinue their 101 Rye. Even more dramatic is what happened to the Japanese whisky industry in the middle of that decade. With their aged stocks depleted and demand surging, the Big Two of Japan were forced to take drastic measures. Nikka, one of that pair, discontinued all their age statement single malt expressions. As late as 2020, the company was announcing the discontinuance of older vatted malts. That is what a real shortage looks like.

Now the shortage shows signs of relenting. Earlier this year, Nikka announced the reintroduction of its entry level, age statement single malt: Yoichi 10 Year Old. One can only hope that it is the turning of the tide, and by the end of this decade things might return to something like what they were around 2010.

The Whisky
This 45% ABV pour makes it easy to remember why Japanese whisky took off like a rocket once major attention began to be called to it in the early 2010s. The standard pale gold coloring understates what is in the glass, because it looks like most 10 year old single malts. It’s objectively above most similarly aged malts, regardless of origin.

The nose is fruity with lemon zest and pears, accented by a touch of rosewater and vanilla, plus a sliver of wood. Despite this mostly herbal and fruity character, it isn’t a light or effervescent scent at all, but instead comes on with substance, a foreshadowing of the next step.

Sipping on Yoichi 10 Year Old takes it all a full step up in terms of sophistication and density, which is saying something given where we stepped off from. The fruitiness is joined by golden raisins, the vanilla by cookie spices, and the rosewater by apple mint. The woody element disappears, replaced by the lightest touch of smoke on the back end. It’s the finish that holds it back, being rather non-descript.

The Price
The reminder that the Japanese whisky shortage was a very real thing, and not a thing of 90% hype, is the price commanded by this decade-old malt: $175. If the quality is punching well above its weight, so is the price tag.