Prices
Prices and stock come from each retailer's website. Check with the store before you buy.
More from this distillery: All Nikka whiskies and prices
About
What it is
A 17 year old blended whisky from Nikka, bottled at 43% and best known for its ceramic decanter with cranes on it. Tsuru means crane, and the name nods to Masataka Taketsuru, whose surname translates roughly as bamboo crane. The Tsuru line was retired around 2016 to 2017 and also included a cheaper no age statement version.
Where it comes from
This predates the Japan Spirits and Liqueurs Makers Association labelling standard, which came into force in 2021, several years after the Tsuru range was discontinued. No bottle was ever assessed against it.
Given what Nikka has since disclosed about which of its blends contain whisky from outside Japan, and given the company has owned Ben Nevis in Scotland since 1989 and used its output in blends for decades, it would be unsafe to assume this was all Japanese. It's equally unsafe to assert it wasn't. The honest answer is that nobody published the composition at the time and nobody is going to now.
How it's made
A blended whisky, so malt and grain together, with components reported to come from Yoichi, Miyagikyo and the now closed Nishinomiya plant. It reads as strongly sherry influenced, which points to Miyagikyo stock. Nikka never published a cask breakdown. Everything in it was at least 17 years old at bottling.
What to expect
Rich and sherried, with dried fruit, a roasted, nutty depth and very little smoke despite the Yoichi in the mix. It sits closer to an aged blended Scotch than to Nikka's malt-forward bottles, and it was built for sipping or for a mizuwari.
How it compares
Against Taketsuru Pure Malt, the Tsuru blends were the smaller siblings with grain whisky in them. Against current Nikka blends, this comes from an era with far deeper aged stock, which is the main reason people chase it. These now trade as collectables and the decanter is part of the price.
