Nikka's founder Masataka Taketsuru is considered the father of Japanese whisky. After completing studies in chemistry, he was recruited by the Settsu Shuzo company, who sent him to Scotland in 1918 to complete his apprenticeship. There he developed a passion for whisky and decided to dedicate his life to it. In 1934, he built Yoichi, his first distillery, on the island of Hokkaido. Its growing success enabled him to establish a second distillery in 1969, near Sendai, named Miyagikyo. It is from the single malts of these two distilleries that the Nikka Whisky group produces its entire range of Japanese whiskies.

Nikka Coffey Malt is a malt whisky distilled in a 1960s Coffey still at the Miyagikyo distillery. This type of still is generally used to produce grain whiskies for blends, often with corn in Japan. This is therefore an original whisky that combines the aromatic richness of a malt whisky with the creamy softness typical of a grain whisky.