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Nikka Yoichi Single Malt

余市

Nikka Yoichi Single Malt bottle
Photo: Céréales Killer · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons
On the shelf Meets the JSLMA standard

What it costs in Japan

¥5,500

about $37 at ¥150/$ (2026-08)

Our estimate · checked August 2026

US retail is 2.5× the Japanese price — about $55 more per bottle.

Observed in a Japanese shop · checked August 2026
Total Wine & More listed price, 750ml. US bottles are 750ml against 700ml in Japan.

Can you actually buy it here?

Stocked by ordinary Japanese liquor shops and supermarkets at list price.

Our estimate · checked August 2026

Is it Japanese whisky?

Mashed, fermented, distilled, matured and bottled in Japan, per the Japan Spirits & Liqueurs Makers Association standard.

How it tastes

Still distilled over direct coal fire, which almost nobody does anymore and which you can taste: char, weight, a faint salt from the sea outside. Yoichi is the closest Japan gets to a Highland distillery, which is exactly what Masataka Taketsuru went to Scotland to learn.

Peat
Sweetness
Fruit
Spice
Oak
Smoke
Complexity
Body

Our estimates, scored the same way across every bottle so they can be compared.

Specification

ProducerYoichi Distillery
RegionHokkaido
TypeSingle Malt
AgeNo age statement
ABV45%
CasksRemade, Sherry
Best servedNeat, On the rocks
Our rating85 / 100 (editorial)

Where to buy outside Japan

UK retailers ship to the US state by state, and the list changes. Check your state on the retailer's own site before ordering — any state list we published here would be out of date within months.

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Allocated Meets the JSLMA standard

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0.9× abroad

Nikka From The Barrel

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On the shelf Does not meet the standard

¥3,300

3.6× abroad