Nikka "From the Barrel" calls itself a vatted whisky. They use the term meaning it is a blend or "marriage" of different malt and grain whisky, in this case the Japanese Miyagikyo and Yoichi distilleries. In other words, it's a blended whisky. The expression is bottled at cask strength (hence "from the barrel") and comes in at a relatively high proof, though anyone familiar with barrel-strength bourbon and cask-strength scotch will be comfortable with the proof. Nikka whisky is made in Japan and founded officially in 1952, though its heritage reaches back to Masataka Taketsuru who trained in Glasgow and...
Nikka Taketsuru Pure Malt is one of the Pure Malt series of whisky. It is a blend of single malts (often known as a vatted malt) coming from the "fruity" character of the Miyagikyo malts and the smokiness of the Yoichi malts. To us, this implies an almost-blended scotch whisky character that subdues the heavier smoke for a smoother, more approachable whisky. We have opted to list this as a "single malt" since a blended label typically implies a measure of added grain whisky. This appears to be the same whisky as the Pure Malt Black that was re-branded in...
Canadian 6yr Whisky is the original and flagship blend. Usually, whiskies are blended after aging in order to marry the flavors but in the case of this flagship brand, the blending is done unaged (still in its "moonshine" state) in order to properly mix the various malts. It experienced a slight re-branding celebrating the "1858" date and is is often referred to as the "original 1858 whisky." Canadian Club is a brand of Canadian whisky using a blend of different grains... and you have gotta love their new tag line, "Damn right your dad drank it." Hiram Walker founded Canadian...
