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.

The Taketsuru Pure Malt was launched in 2013. Like its predecessors, it pays tribute to Nikka’’s founder and one of the founding fathers of Japanese whisky, Masataka Taketsuru. It is a blend of malt whiskies from the group’’s two distilleries, Yoichi and Miyagikyo. The label contains no age statement, as Nikka had discontinued most aged versions in 2015 due to increasing demand and the resulting pressure on stocks. A Taketsuru 17 Year Old and 21 Year Old nonetheless still exist.