A Complete Guide to Japanese Whisky- The Two Giants, From Yamazaki & Yoichi to Chichibu & Akkeshi

The Dawn of Japanese Whisky: A Prologue of Imitation and Exploration

The history of Japanese whisky is often focused on the great pioneering work of Masataka Taketsuru and Shinjiro Torii. However, before these two titans appeared, Japan's exploration of whisky had already quietly begun. As early as the Meiji Restoration in the late 19th century, with the influx of Western culture, whisky entered Japan as a novel import. At that time, the market was flooded with counterfeit products made from alcohol, spices, and colouring; true brewing technology was still a blank slate.

A key figure in this exploratory period who must be mentioned is Kiichiro Iwai of Settsu Shuzo. It was he who recognized Masataka Taketsuru's talent and passion, recommending in 1918 that the young man travel to Scotland, beginning the journey to find the roots of Japanese whisky. Masataka Taketsuru studied chemistry at the University of Glasgow in Scotland and interned at famous distilleries such as Longmorn and Hazelburn, meticulously recording Scottish brewing techniques in what later became known as the 'Taketsuru Notes'.

However, when Taketsuru returned to Japan after completing his studies, Settsu Shuzo, due to an economic downturn, could no longer support the grand plan to establish a Japanese whisky distillery. At this time, another dreamer—Shinjiro Torii, the founder of Kotobukiya (the predecessor of Suntory)—extended an olive branch to him. Torii's goal was clear and ambitious: to create a Japanese whisky that truly belonged to Japan and suited the delicate palates of East Asians. Thus, the meeting of two men—one a craftsman with technical skills and a Scottish soul, the other a merchant with capital and market vision—officially raised the curtain on the Japanese whisky industry.

The Rise and Characteristics of Japanese Whisky

Japanese whisky has a relatively young history, primarily founded in the early 20th century. Masataka Taketsuru, revered as the "Father of Japanese Whisky," traveled to Scotland to learn distillation techniques and brought them back to Japan. He first assisted Shinjiro Torii in establishing Japan's first commercial malt whisky distillery—Yamazaki—and later founded Nikka on his own. The efforts of these two pioneers laid a solid foundation for the development of Japanese whisky.

Japanese whisky is heavily influenced by Scotch whisky and is similarly divided into Single Malt Whisky, Grain Whisky, and Blended Whisky. However, Japanese whisky has developed its own unique style. Its characteristics include:

Further Reading: The Complete Guide to Whisky Types | Understanding Whisky Varieties from Around the World

• Exquisite Craftsmanship and Detail: The Japanese 'Takumi' (artisan) spirit is reflected in every aspect of brewing, from raw material selection, fermentation, and distillation to maturation, striving for perfection.
• Pursuit of Balance and Harmony: Compared to the exuberant character of some Scotch whiskies, many Japanese whiskies focus more on delicate, elegant, and balanced palates, which are considered particularly suited to Asian taste preferences.
• Diverse Styles: Although the overall impression leans towards delicacy, Japanese distilleries create a rich variety of flavours based on different geographical environments, water sources, equipment, and brewing philosophies, ranging from light and floral to heavy and peated.
• Use of Mizunara Oak: This is an oak species unique to Japan, imparting distinctive sandalwood, kyara incense, coconut, and oriental spice flavours to the whisky, becoming one of the signature characteristics of Japanese whisky. However, due to its porous texture, tendency to leak, and the need for long maturation to reveal its benefits, it is difficult and expensive to work with.

It is these qualities that have allowed Japanese whisky to repeatedly achieve outstanding results in international competitions, earning global respect and acclaim.

Further Reading: A Complete Breakdown of Mizunara Casks - Why is Mizunara-finished Whisky so Expensive and Rare? What Flavours Does Mizunara Cask Provide?

The Art of Self-Sufficient Blending: The Core of Japanese Whisky's Flavour

In addition to the artisan spirit and the use of Mizunara wood, another major feature of Japanese whisky is its philosophy of 'self-sufficient' blending. In Scotland, producers of blended whisky often purchase new make spirits from dozens of different distilleries to construct their ideal flavour profile. In Japan, however, the two major groups, Suntory and Nikka, rarely exchange their whiskies.

To achieve flavour complexity, they do the opposite, creating extreme diversity within their own distilleries. Take Suntory, for example. The Yamazaki distillery has pot stills of different shapes and sizes; different yeast strains are used during fermentation; and a wide variety of oak casks, from bourbon and sherry to the unique Japanese Mizunara, are used for maturation. This allows the single Yamazaki distillery to produce dozens of different styles of new make spirit, from light and floral to rich and fruity, to heavy and peated, as if it were a microcosm of Scotland's production regions. Nikka does the same, pairing the robust style of its Yoichi distillery with the elegant and soft style of its Miyagikyo distillery, supplemented by unique grain whiskies from their Coffey stills, providing their blenders with a rich 'palette' to create from. This ability to complete the entire flavour puzzle—from light to heavy, from floral to peated—within a single group is the core secret behind how top-tier Japanese blends like 'Hibiki' and 'Taketsuru' achieve such harmony and balance.

The Two Giants: The Japanese Whisky Dynasties of Suntory & Nikka

When speaking of Japanese whisky, one cannot fail to mention the two major groups: Suntory and Nikka. They are not only the pioneers of Japanese whisky but also remain the market leaders today, owning multiple distilleries with distinct styles and widely popular brands.

Nikka: Inheriting from Scotland, Pursuing Robustness and Complexity

Founded by Masataka Taketsuru, Nikka is deeply influenced by his apprenticeship in Scotland, striving to create whiskies closer to the traditional Scottish style, with more robust and complex flavours. Nikka owns two core malt whisky distilleries:

• Yoichi Distillery: Located in Yoichi, Hokkaido, the climate is cold, similar to Scotland. Yoichi insists on using traditional coal-fired pot stills. This heating method is high-temperature and difficult to control, but it imparts a richer, fuller-bodied character to the whisky, with unique roasted, smoky (peaty), and maritime notes. Yoichi single malt whisky is known for its powerful, complex, and distinct peaty flavour.
• Miyagikyo Distillery: Located in a valley on the outskirts of Sendai, Honshu, its environment is completely different from Yoichi—milder and more humid. Miyagikyo uses steam-heated pot stills, producing whiskies that are more elegant, soft, and full of floral and sherry-like fruit aromas. Its single malt whisky showcases a delicate profile different from Yoichi's.
• Nikka Coffey Stills: Nikka also operates two traditional Coffey stills at the Miyagikyo distillery, used to produce grain whisky and a small amount of experimental malt whisky (using a column still for malt is relatively rare worldwide). Whiskies produced by Coffey stills have a unique texture, rich taste, and retain more of the raw material's flavour.

Nikka's famous brands include:

• Yoichi (余市): A powerful, peated single malt whisky.
• Miyagikyo (宮城峽): An elegant single malt whisky with floral and fruity aromas.
• Taketsuru Pure Malt (竹鶴): A blended malt (or Pure Malt) whisky paying homage to the founder. It blends whiskies from Yoichi and Miyagikyo, showcasing complexity and balance.
• Nikka From The Barrel: A high-strength (fixed at 51.4% ABV) blended whisky (containing malt and grain whiskies) with a rich and powerful flavour. It offers great value and is very popular with bars and enthusiasts.
• Nikka Coffey Grain / Coffey Malt: A grain whisky and a malt whisky that showcase the unique charm of the Coffey still. The former has sweet corn and vanilla notes, while the latter has rich malt sweetness and a full-bodied fruitcake flavour.

Further Reading: Unlocking the Nikka Yoichi Distillery Code: Understanding Masataka Taketsuru and the Uniqueness of Yoichi Whisky

Suntory and Nikka each have different distilleries and brewing philosophies, enabling them to independently produce a diverse range of new make spirits for their own single malt or blended whisky creations, unlike in Scotland where swapping spirits within or outside groups is common to enrich blended products. This is also a major characteristic of the Japanese whisky system.

From the Ice Age to the Golden Age: International Awards and the Catalyst for Global Sensation

After Suntory and Nikka laid the foundation, Japanese whisky underwent decades of domestic development. However, entering the late 1980s, as Japan's economic bubble burst, Japanese whisky sales plummeted. It was seen as an old-fashioned drink, with the younger generation turning to shochu and beer. This period, known as the 'Japanese Whisky Ice Age,' led to operational difficulties for many small and medium-sized distilleries, which eventually had to shut down their production lines. The discontinuation of Hanyu and Karuizawa is a tragic epitome of this era.

However, crisis also breeds opportunity. The distilleries that adhered to quality during that time quietly accumulated a large stock of high-quality, aged new make spirits. Entering the 21st century, the fate of Japanese whisky took a dramatic turn. In 2001, Nikka's 'Yoichi 10 Year Old Single Malt' defeated numerous Scottish competitors in a blind tasting by the authoritative "Whisky Magazine," winning the 'Best of the Best' top honour and shocking the world. Following this, in 2003, Suntory's 'Yamazaki 12 Year Old' won a gold medal at the International Spirits Challenge (ISC). This series of international awards, like a stone causing a thousand ripples, made global whisky enthusiasts and collectors focus on this East Asian island nation's Japanese whisky for the first time. They were astonished to find that Japan could not only make whisky but could also produce top-tier spirits capable of challenging, and even surpassing, traditional Scottish regions. The explosive growth in international demand, coupled with the scarcity of stock due to previous shutdowns, jointly pushed Japanese whisky prices soaring and ignited a global craze, also creating an excellent market environment for the later rise of new-generation distilleries like Chichibu.

Lost Legends: The Legendary Closed Japanese Distilleries

Besides the active distilleries, the history of Japanese whisky also includes some lamentable "lost distilleries." Although they have closed, the whisky stocks they left behind have become priceless treasures on the collector's market, representing a glorious fragment of Japanese whisky.

Hanyu (羽生蒸餾所): The Eternal Legend of the Card Series

Hanyu Distillery was located in Hanyu City, Saitama Prefecture, and operated by Toa Shuzo. Its founder, the Akuto family, was originally a long-established sake brewing family. Hanyu Distillery began producing malt whisky in the 1980s. Whisky production by the founding Akuto family originally ceased in 2000, and the original site was subsequently closed. Fortunately, a descendant of the founding family—Mr. Ichiro Akuto—after establishing his company Venture Whisky, fought for and eventually bought the Hanyu new make spirit stock left by his grandfather. More importantly, the original operating company, Toa Shuzo, has rebuilt the Hanyu Distillery in recent years and resumed distillation in 2021, writing a new chapter for this legendary name.

With these precious Hanyu spirits, Ichiro Akuto founded the independent bottling brand "Ichiro's Malt" and launched the highly creative "Card Series." Each label in this series corresponds to a playing card (54 in total, including Jokers), and each is a single cask bottling of Hanyu spirit from different years and cask types. The Card Series quickly became a coveted item for global whisky collectors due to its unique flavour, extremely high quality, and collectible value, immortalizing the Hanyu name. Hanyu's style is varied, ranging from fruity and spicy to peated, demonstrating its experimental spirit as a small distillery.

A New Generation's Inheritance: The Connection Between Chichibu Distillery and Hanyu

After Hanyu Distillery closed, Mr. Ichiro Akuto did not stop at just bottling his grandfather's remaining spirits. With the dream of revitalizing his family's brewing business, he established a new, small distillery—Chichibu Distillery—in the nearby city of Chichibu in 2007, and officially began distillation in 2008.

Chichibu Distillery not only inherited the spiritual legacy of Hanyu but also represents the rise of Japan's new generation of craft whisky. Ichiro Akuto is personally involved in every detail of the brewing process, from the selection of barley (including attempts to use local Saitama barley and conducting floor malting - though in limited quantities), the material of the washbacks (partially using unique Japanese Mizunara wood), to the design of the stills (made by Forsyths of Scotland) and the choice of oak casks (establishing his own cooperage). It is all filled with an experimental spirit and the ultimate pursuit of quality.

Although Chichibu is small in scale, its operation is very flexible, daring to try different processes and cask types, including bourbon, sherry, various wine casks, rum casks, beer casks, and of course, the iconic Japanese Mizunara casks. This small-batch, artisanal model allows Chichibu to quickly release stylistically diverse and high-quality whiskies.

Chichibu Distillery's products are also released under the "Ichiro's Malt" brand. Common series include:

• Chichibu Single Malts Series: Such as The First, The Peated, On The Way, US Edition, London Edition, etc., representing milestones in the distillery's different stages and stylistic explorations.
• Ichiro's Malt & Grain World Blended Whisky (White Label/Blue Label/Limited Editions): Blends Chichibu's own malt and grain whiskies (with plans to produce their own grain whisky in the future), along with new make spirits from the world's major whisky regions (Scotland, Ireland, Canada, USA), showcasing Ichiro Akuto's superb blending skills.
• Ichiro's Malt Various Single Casks or Limited Editions: Often the target of whisky enthusiasts, showcasing the diversity of Chichibu's spirits.

The success of Chichibu Distillery lies not only in its historical connection to Hanyu and its legendary status but also in its commitment to quality and spirit of continuous innovation. It proves that even a small, young distillery can produce world-class Japanese whisky, and it has inspired the birth of more emerging distilleries.

Further Reading: The Past and Present of Chichibu Whisky: From the Hanyu Legend to the Rise of Chichibu

The New Wave of Japanese Whisky: Noteworthy Emerging Distilleries

Following Chichibu, Japanese whisky has seen an unprecedented new wave of emerging distilleries. Most of these new distilleries are small in scale but full of passion and creativity, dedicated to exploring more possibilities for Japanese whisky. Here are a few emerging distilleries that have garnered significant attention:

Akkeshi (厚岸蒸溜所): Hokkaido's Pursuer of Islay Style

Akkeshi Distillery is located in Akkeshi, eastern Hokkaido. The environment here shares many similarities with Islay, Scotland: a cold climate, surrounding rich wetlands (a potential source of peat), proximity to the coast, and frequent sea fog. Therefore, Akkeshi's goal is very clear: to produce an Islay-style Japanese whisky with a distinct smoky peatiness.

Akkeshi began distilling in 2016 with equipment from Forsyths of Scotland. It places a strong emphasis on the concept of "terroir," not only planning to use locally grown barley and peat but also using locally sourced Hokkaido Mizunara oak for some of its maturation casks. Akkeshi's release strategy is unique; its main series is named after the "24 Solar Terms" of the Chinese calendar, such as "Kanro," "Usui," "Boshu," and "Taisho." Each release represents a different maturation stage and flavour evolution, available in both single malt and blended versions. Akkeshi whisky is highly praised for its balanced peat, sea-salt brine, and sweet fruit notes, making it a rising star not to be missed by peat lovers.

Saburomaru (三郎丸蒸餾所): A Century-Old Distillery's Path to Innovation

Saburomaru Distillery is located in Tonami City, Toyama Prefecture, and belongs to Wakatsuru Shuzo, a sake and shochu producer with a century-long history. Saburomaru obtained its whisky production license and began small-scale production in 1952, but for a long time, its whisky was mainly supplied to its own blended brand, "Sun Shine Whisky."

In recent years, Saburomaru has undergone extensive renovation and modernization (completed in 2017). Particularly noteworthy is their collaboration with a local foundry to develop cast copper (or bronze alloy) pot stills named "ZEMON." This is claimed to be the world's first whisky still made using this innovative material and integrated casting process, whose heat conduction and internal reaction properties may bring unique flavours to the spirit. Saburomaru also produces heavily peated whisky and has begun releasing single malt whiskies under the "Saburomaru" name. As a distillery with a long history yet keen on innovation, Saburomaru's future development is worth watching.

In addition to the few mentioned above, many more emerging craft whisky distilleries are cropping up across Japan, such as Niigata Beer (Kameda Distillery), Yusa, Sakurao, Kanosuke, Nukada, etc., all contributing to a new chapter for Japanese whisky.

How to Choose Japanese Whisky

Faced with a dazzling array of Japanese whiskies, how should one choose?

Buying Advice:

• Understand Your Style Preference: Do you prefer fruity, floral, elegant, and delicate styles? Or styles with a sense of freshness or peaty smoke? Or perhaps robust, complex, and characterful? Understanding your taste preference is the first step to buying Japanese whisky.
• Know the Brands and Distilleries: Different brands and distilleries have their representative styles. Suntory generally leans towards harmony and refinement, Nikka's style is more diverse, Chichibu represents craft innovation, and the emerging distilleries each have their own characteristics and experimental nature.
• Age Statement vs. Non-Age Statement (NAS): Due to tight stocks of aged spirit, high-age-statement Japanese whiskies have become very rare and expensive in recent years. Non-Age Statement (NAS) whiskies have become the market mainstream. They are created by blenders mixing spirits of different maturities, aiming to express a specific style rather than a single age. Some NAS models or brands are also of excellent quality, such as Hibiki and Taketsuru. Don't be obsessed with age; there are many NAS whiskies that offer great value and excellent flavour.
• Pay Attention to Price: The price range for Japanese whisky is wide, from mass-market blends costing a few hundred Hong Kong dollars to rare single casks or old vintages costing tens or even hundreds of thousands. Set a budget and price range, and look for well-reviewed whiskies that suit your taste within that range.
• Identify authentic "Japanese Whisky": In the past, there were "Japanese Style Whiskies" or products with unclear labelling on the market that were merely bottled in Japan, with most or all of the spirit originating from other countries. Pay attention to the label information when purchasing. The JSLMA labelling standards have been implemented since 2021 (April 1st), with the transition period ending in 2024. Starting in 2025, a new LOGO will be introduced and certification measures strengthened. The rules stipulate that the whisky must be saccharified, fermented, and distilled in Japan; matured in Japan in wooden casks not exceeding 700 litres for at least three years; and bottled in Japan. Choosing products that meet this definition better ensures you are getting authentic Japanese whisky.
• Purchase Channels: In Hong Kong, you can find Japanese whisky in large chain liquor stores, specialized whisky boutiques like Alcohol Please, department store supermarkets, and reputable online shops. Attending tastings or consulting with professionals at the shop is also a good way.

Conclusion and Future Outlook

Japanese Whisky, with its ultimate pursuit of quality and unique harmonious aesthetics, has transformed from an imitator to a world-class leader in just one century. From the solid foundation laid by the two giants, Suntory and Nikka, to the precious legacy and collection craze left by lost legends like Hanyu and Karuizawa, to the new generation of craft power led by Chichibu, and the booming development of many new distilleries like Nagahama, Akkeshi, Mars, Shizuoka, and Saburomaru, the world of Japanese whisky is showing unprecedented vitality and diversity.

Of course, Japanese whisky also faces challenges, including the shortage of spirit for core brands leading to continuously rising prices, the scarcity of high-age-statement whiskies, and how to maintain an overall high-quality reputation among the growing number of new brands. However, as new distilleries successively release more mature products, and with continued exploration of local ingredients (like Japanese barley, Mizunara oak) and innovative processes (like unique stills, fermentation methods), the future of Japanese whisky remains full of potential, deserving of continued attention and anticipation from whisky lovers worldwide.

However, ranking Japanese whiskies is subjective and varies by personal taste. While established distilleries like Suntory's Yamazaki and Nikka's Yoichi are famous for their long history and stable quality, emerging distilleries like Chichibu, Akkeshi, and Nagahama are also performing exceptionally well, bringing innovative flavours and local characteristics. Based on taste preference, those who love delicate fruitiness might choose Yamazaki, while those who love peat smoke might prefer Akkeshi. Chichibu's diverse limited editions attract drinkers seeking novelty. Each whisky has its unique charm; rankings vary from person to person, making them worthy of personal tasting and exploration.

Whether you are a seasoned drinker or a novice exploring for the first time, we hope this article helps you gain a deeper understanding of the wonderful world of Japanese whisky and find your own favourite. If you want to learn more about different styles of whisky, welcome to our website! To learn more about whisky, you can also refer to Wikipedia for more information.

Overview of Major Japanese Whisky Distilleries