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.

This new version of Taketsuru Pure Malt was launched in 2020, 100 years after Nikka’’s founder Masataka Taketsuru married Jessie Roberta Cowan, better known by her nickname ‘Rita’’. It is a blend of Yoichi sherry casks and Miyagikyo sherry and remade casks. All the versions with age statements were eventually discontinued over the years and this was the last available.