Nikka Miyagikyo Discovery Aromatic Yeast Japanese Whisky – 70cl

The companion piece to the Yoichi Aromatic Yeast and the more immediately seductive of the two 2022 Discovery releases — the Miyagikyo Aromatic Yeast is a whisky of almost disarming fruit-forward beauty, built around the same philosophical premise as its Yoichi sibling but arriving at a completely different and utterly captivating destination. Where the Yoichi expression takes peat smoke and transforms it with daiginjo-style yeast esters into something unexpectedly delicate and floral, the Miyagikyo expression takes Miyagikyo's already elegant, fruity, and refined house character and amplifies it to something approaching pure sensory pleasure — drawing on a rare aromatic yeast strain from Nikka's proprietary culture collection to produce a fermentation of extraordinary stone fruit intensity, concentrating the peach and apricot notes that Miyagikyo's steam-heated pot stills naturally generate into something richer, more vivid, and more singularly compelling than the standard expression ever achieves.

The result is a whisky so fruit-forward and so immediately appealing that critics have reached for comparisons to gummy peach rings, fresh stone fruit, and Japanese white peach confectionery — notes that sound almost too approachable for a serious whisky yet arrive with a complexity and depth of character that rewards careful attention. Non-chill filtered, bottled at 47% ABV, and limited to just 20,000 bottles globally — the most accessible and immediately joyful expression in the entire Discovery Series.