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Japanese Whisky
Surprisingly, Japan and other Asian countries have also developed a strong desire for whiskies. In fact, Japan is the largest producer in the world outside of North America and the UK. Here, too, the connection to the Celtic distilling process can be found. The "father of Japanese whisky," Masataka Taketuru, was actually the first Japanese to study the art of whisky making at the University of Glasgow from 1918 to 1920. Masataka's talent did not occur by chance. His family had owned a sake brewery that had been producing quality rice wine since 1733. Not only was his experience in the Highlands a profound awakening for Masataka, but his choice of location for his distillery, in Yoichi, Hokkaido, mirrored in geography the Scottish town in which he had lived.
Masataka was later hired by Shinjiro Torrii to setup a whisky company (now known as Suntory). At the time, few Japanese people drank whisky at the time, but Torrii sought to create a whisky that would reflect the customs and traditions of the Japanese. The most important factor was that the whisky would not interfere with the flavor of Japanese cuisine. Torrii eventually succeeded, and his whisky is now the most popular whisky in Japan.
While Scotch whisky is ideal when drunk alone, Japanese whisky is ideal as a complement to food. Surprisingly enough, the world's largest whisky distillery is not in Scotland or Ireland, but in Japan.
Chichibu
The delightfully named Chichibu Distillery has its past heavily intertwined with the much respected Hanyu distillery. Hanyu was founded by Isouji Akuto in 1941 but when Hanyu hit some financial problems at the turn of the century the distillery and all stock were sold and later the building was demolished. Thankfully the grandson of the founder, Ichiro Akuto, managed to salvage some 400 casks and the distillery equipment from Hanyu.
The death of the distillery inspired Ichiro Akuto to create his own distillery near his family town of Chichibu. After the distillery was completed in late 2007 Ichiro has been keeping himself busy producing pre-whisky spirit (entitled “Chichibu New Born”) and has definite plans for a strong range of whiskies.
Chichibu currently produces three types of spirit: heavy and medium bodied unpeated spirit as well as a heavily peated spirit. Ichiro’s plan is to release six casks each year (presumably two of each type) and three of these will be for export with the other three being kept for the Japanese market. As if starting up and running a distillery was not enough, Ichiro has been releasing a lot of the rescued Hanyu whisky both under the name of Hanyu but also under his own in the “Ichiro’s Malt” range which includes the very interesting Double Distilleries where the old meets the new as a vatting of Hanyu and Chichibu.
Hakushu
House style: Fruity, oily and often a little peaty.
Beautifully located in the middle of a huge nature reserve and bird sanctuary at the foot of Kaikomagatake mountain, Hakushu at one time was said to be the largest malt whisky distillery in the world. Built in 1973 it has 24 pot stills, both steam-heated and coal-fired stills, although only the former are in use at present. Heavily peated examples of Hakushu have been released in very small quantities, and whilst being highly rated, are extremely hard to get hold of. The 12 year old is wonderful whisky.
Hanyu
Hanyu Distillery was located in a town bearing its name on the banks of the Tone river. The original company was founded from a family business originally established in 1626 by the Akuto family, sake-makers in the town of Chichibu. Isouji Akuto, the 19th generation of the Akuto family, built a factory in Hanyu city, north-west of Tokyo, in 1941 to produce alcohol and obtained a licence to do so in 1946.
In 1980, serious attempts to produce a Scotch whisky-type product began and two pot stills were obtained. At the time, consumer demand was for blended whisky rather than single malt. Since then there has been a worldwide shift towards single malts and in 1990 Chichibu whisky was launched, named after the place where the sake was originally produced. It had two steam-heated stills and a continuous still, along with a Sake brewery.
Unfortunately it stopped making whisky in 2000, with the pot stills and distilling equipment dismantled in 2004. The grandson of the founder, Ichiro, purchased the mature stock and distilling facilities and hopes one day to start a new distillery. A dream that he is currently realising with his creation of the Chichibu Distillery.
Karuizawa
House Style: A relatively weighty, sweet spirit, often matched to sherry maturation.
An idiosyncratic distillery, quite different to Nikka and Suntory giants. Fifty years ago the site of Karuizawa Distillery, was actually a vineyard before its owner Daikoku-budoshu converted it into a whisky distillery in 1962. The distillery stands in the countryside, in the shadow of a dormant volcano named Mt. Asama.
It has four pine washbacks, four stills and ivy-covered warehouses. At one time they only used sherry casks for maturation, and there have been a number of single cask bottlings in this sherry-led style. This matches what is a heavy spirit which is made using only Golden Promise malt, all shipped from Simpson’s of Berwick. Since the mid-nineties this malt has been unpeated, whereas it was previously quite heavily peated.
Currently being used as a museum but since its' parent company, Mercian, was bought over in 2006/7 by beer giants, Kirin the distillery seems destined to remain closed.
Sendai/Miyagikyo
House style: Light and floral. Sendai distillery is located in a gorge in the Miyagi Province, which is the literal translation of the distilleries other name: Miyagikyo. They also produce a grain whisky and have a bottling plant at the same site. It is seen as a Lowland-style whisky.
Yamazaki
House Style: Bright fruity flavours. Dave Broom refers to the Yamazaki Dip (not a dance craze, but a pause in flavour from beginning to end) The original Japanese malt distillery, Yamazaki was founded in 1924, and the very first still used lies in the courtyard along with some of casks that matured the first spirit. Located at the site of a famous water source where three rivers converge, this distillery is often shrouded in mist, and the warehouses sit sheltered by a bamboo forest. Unlike most Scottish distilleries, the stills at Yamazaki are all different in size and shape. This is probably because they make many different types of spirit from the same set of stills, in order to facilitate single-company blends, as there is no blending/swapping market.
Yoichi
House style: Yoichi produces an oily, slightly peaty, Highland-style whisky with a bourbon-like finish. Founded in 1934 by Masataka Taketsuru, Yoichi is regarded as the most Scottish of Japan’s malt whisky distilleries. Its founder chose the location on the north Island of Hokkaido because he felt it was the most similar location to the Highlands of Scotland, where he had trained as a student. It remains extremely traditional, to the point of having committed to coal-fired stills, which will be out of use in Scotland by 2006. Yoichi’s owners, Nikka, fill fair quantities of spirit into new oak casks, which along with the increased temperature variation, give the final product some similarities with bourbon.
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