Japanese Whiskey Stories
In recent years, one destination has been a constant focus for whisky fans. The distant for us, slightly mystical, often incomprehensible and full of curiosity Japan.
I first had a taste of Japanese whisky around 2010-2011, when 12 year old releases of Yamazaki, Hibiki, Hakusho were freely available without any interest. The market in those years was looking for certain modern brands from the main whisky destinations - Scotland, Ireland and America. The mention of whisky from the land of the rising sun brought more snide comments and how £90 would buy a great single malt, rather than a completely unknown, and perhaps strange tasting whisky from an unpopular destination.
The year is 2015, and Jim Murray's Whisky Bible (adored by some and ridiculed by others in whisky circles) gives the 2013 Yamazaki Sherry Cask 97.5 points and declares it the #1 whisky of the year. Boom! So far so good with the unknown whisky samurais. The world went crazy and whisky from Japan started to run out and prices started to fly up. The brands listed above now became hard to find and their prices doubled or tripled. You can now find Yamazaki Sherry Cask 2013 on some sites for around £7,000!
In 1924 the first whisky distillery opened in Japan - Yamazaki thanks to Shinjiro Torii and Masataka Taketsuru.
In his youth, Shinjiro Torii worked for his uncle, who produced and traded various alcoholic beverages, including Japanese Whisky. Later, he started his own business as a trader and manufacturer of Western alcoholic beverages.
Taketsuru comes from a family of sake producers. He studied at Osaka Technical University, from where he was recruited by the liquor merchant Settsu Shuzo. He entrusted him with the production of various types of alcoholic beverages and in 1918 the company sent him to Scotland, where he learned practically all the intricacies of whisky production at the Longmorn and Hazelburn distilleries. When he returned to Japan in 1920, in addition to his know-how, he was with a ring on his hand from his Scottish wife. Unfortunately for Settsu Shuzo, when Taketsuru returned the company was suffering from the economic effects of the depression and plans to build a distillery were abandoned.
In 1924, when Torii opened the Yamazaki distillery, he hired Taketsuru as manager. Japan's first real commercial whisky production followed. Taketsuru worked for the successful distillery for 10 years and in 1934 founded his own whisky company, Dainipponkaju , as well as the Yoichi distillery in Hokkaido. After the end of the war, he continued working, changing the company name to Nikka Whisky Distilling.
You can take a look at a short movie about the Japanese Whisky history at the following link:
Nowadays, there are 22 working distilleries, 8 of them were opened after 2016: Yamazaki, Yoichi, Mt. Fuji, Hakusho, Miyagikyo, Chichibu 1, Chichibu 2, Akkeshi, Asakа, Eigashima, Kaikyo, Kanosuke, Kurayoshi, Mars Shinshu, Mars Tsunuki, Nagahama, Nukadа, Okayama, Saburomaru, Sakurao, Shizuoka, Yasato, Yuza.
Click here, to take a look at the selection of Japanese whisky brands.
Closed distilleries and magnificent for friends collectors and investors bottles with a rising price from:
Karuizawa - located in Nagano - owned by Mercian, which is part of Kirin. It ceased operations in 2001.
Hanyu — located in Saitama, close to Tokyo — closed in 2000.
Stay tuned for further news about the production methods, small secrets and curious facts about the Japanese whisky culture.
A small, but very premium Japanese Whisky Selection you can find at www.vida.bgas well as at Caldo whiskey bar.
