World's Best Pure Malt Whisky
Taketsuru 17 Years Old Pure Malt received the highest honor, a "World's Best" award, at the World Whiskies Awards international whisky contest hosted by Paragraph Publishing Ltd., publishers of British specialty magazine Whisky Magazine. Taketsuru 17 Years Old Pure Malt was selected from among other winners that had gone through first- and second-round tastings to be chosen as "Best" winners, and was further honored with the ultimate "World's Best" award recognizing only the very finest products (one each for six categories).

World's Best Pure Malt Whisky
Taketsuru 21 Years Old Pure Malt received the highest honor, a "World's Best" award, at the World Whiskies Awards international whisky contest hosted by Paragraph Publishing Ltd., publishers of British specialty magazine Whisky Magazine. Taketsuru 21 Years Old Pure Malt was selected from among other winners that had gone through first- and second-round tastings to be chosen as "Best" winners, and was further honored with the ultimate "World's Best" award recognizing only the very finest products (one each for six categories).

Taketsuru Pure Malt was awarded the Gold Medal in the whisky categoryat the prestigious and globally recognized International Spirits Challenge competition, which is held in Great Britain, ancestral homeland of Scotch whisky.

World's Best Single Malt Whisky
Single Malt Yoichi 1987 was selected as the World's Best Single Malt Whisky at the World Whiskies Awards, an international whisky contest hosted by Paragraph Publishing Ltd., publisher of British specialty whisky publication Whisky Magazine. The award was announced on April 16 (local time) at the World Whiskies Conference held in Glasgow, Scotland. Single Malt Yoichi 1987 earned Nikka Whisky this highest international honor after going through two screenings in which it was picked out from an extensive lineup of the world's single malt whiskies.

The World Whiskies Awards grew out of the Best of the Best competition, a blind tasting held every other year since 2000 by Paragraph Publishing Ltd., publisher of Whisky Magazine. In the even more rigorous WWA, only official bottles (from manufacturers or proprietors that have been clearly identified) can be entered.
All entries must first be submitted to a blind taste testing in their country of origin, held in late January, at which grand prize winners are selected for each subcategory. Next, at a tasting in London on March 1, categories are further narrowed down and a grand prize winner is selected for each category. Finally, finalists are selected in six categories, out of which only one whisky each is honored with a "World's Best" award.

The ISC is an international spirits fair held annually in Great Britain and hosted by specialty liquor publisher Quest Magazines and Events. In addition to the whisky category, it features brandy, rum, white spirits, and liqueur categories. Judging is carried out by blind taste testing.
As many as 600 products from about 30 countries are entered in the competition, including approximately 300 entries in the whisky category. Awards are determined by the unanimous decisions of a council of judges consisting of master blenders and chief blenders from whisky distilleries around the world.