Nikka Miyagikyo

Miyagikyo was the second Japanese single malt whisky distillery built by Masataka Taketsuru’s Nikka company. The distillery was built near the city of Sendai in Miyagi prefecture, beginning distillation in 1969, and was known as Sendai distillery until 2001. 

Miyagikyo distillery has both pot stills and column stills, and makes single malt and grain whisky for Nikka’s blended whiskies. Miyagikyo’s single malt whisky range was withdrawn and replaced by a single NAS bottling in 2015 - the distillery’s whisky is needed to maintain production of Nikka’s blends during the present era of unprecedented demand for Japanese whisky.

Distillery bottlings are, as the name suggests, bottled by or for the distillery from which the whisky has originated and are thus often referred to as Official Bottlings or OBs. Distillery bottlings are generally more desirable for collectors and usually fetch higher prices at auction than independent bottlings. They are officially-endorsed versions of the whisky from a particular distillery and are therefore considered the truest expression of the distillery’s character.

This ideal of the distillery character is regarded so seriously by the distilleries and brand owners that casks of whisky that are considered to vary too far from the archetype are frequently sold on to whisky brokers and independent bottlers. When this happens, it is often with the proviso that the distillery’s name is not allowed to be used when the cask is bottled for fear of diminishing or damaging the distillery’s character and status.