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 the Taketsura line-up.

Nikka whisky is made in Japan and founded officially in 1952, though its heritage reaches back to Masataka Taketsuru who trained in Glasgow and first began producing whisky in 1924 (it is said on the inspiration of his wife Rita Cowan). Nikka whisky is made from both the Yoichi and Miyagikyo distilleries (on Hokkaido and Honshu respectively). Yoichi is made in Japan modeled after the traditional Scottish distillery made in pot stills fired by coal. The Miyakikyo uses more modern technology with steam driven Coffey (continuous column) stills in order to achieve a level of precision.