A Year of Japanese Whisky, 2023-2024

Editor’s note: This article, written in April of this year, was intended to be part of a Japanese whisky supplement for Whisky Magazine. However, due to factors beyond my control, they did not publish the supplement. Because the rights have now returned to me, here’s the article in its entirety. So while it’s slightly “matured,” this information is hopefully still useful to some readers.

---

In 2023, Japanese whisky celebrated its 100th anniversary. More specifically, 100 years have passed since construction began at the country’s first genuine whisky distillery, Suntory’s Yamazaki Distillery. Amongst old-world whiskies, Japanese whisky is by far the youngest. After a rough start, the past century has seen flavor profiles and marketing efforts become tailored to a domestic audience, industry leaders supplying officers of the Imperial Japanese Navy with rations during wartime, a postwar rise in consumption hand-in-hand with the country’s economic miracle, and international pressure pushing even major distilleries to wind down their output. Despite that rich history, much of the world knew almost nothing of the delicacies offered by Japanese whisky until the beginning of the 21st century. Under the new glow of this international spotlight, the industry came together to introduce a standard for Japanese whisky in 2021. With the three-year phase-in period now complete, the standard went into effect on April 1, 2024. The world is watching. Japanese distillers remain determined to bring more whisky–saccharified, fermented, distilled, aged, and bottled entirely in Japan–to whisky drinkers worldwide.

100 Years Project – Fellow Distillers

Announced at the Tokyo International BarShow in May 2023, the “Fellow Distillers” project was a collaborative effort between blenders at Japan’s five major whisky makers: Suntory, Nikka, Kirin, Hombo Shuzo (of Mars Whisky), and Venture Whisky (that operates the Chichibu Distillery). This multiyear project involved a stock swap between all parties involved, where the blenders mixed their respective distillery’s own stocks with those from the other four companies. Kirin’s blend by Whisky Hall of Famer Jota Tanaka combined Fuji Gotemba’s “Clean & Estery” profile with the fruitiness offered by the other whiskies. Unfortunately for the industry, this collaboration seems limited in scale and duration: both Suntory and Nikka have denied the possibility of any ongoing, large-scale stock exchanges between the two rivals.

Suntory

For many, Suntory’s Yamazaki and Hakushu distilleries’ single malt releases embody Japanese whisky. The question at either site is not about making quality distillate or finalizing a flavor profile; those questions have already been answered. At Yamazaki, the distillery’s 16 pot stills of varying shapes, sizes, heating elements, cooling apparatuses, and lyne arms are enough to keep any distiller busy for a lifetime. Those options are further multiplied by using stainless or wooden washbacks, or non-peated malt versus peated malt. And that says nothing of the maturation, where Yamazaki famously pioneered the use of Mizunara oak when they were unable to source Bourbon, Spanish oak, and many other cask types from overseas during World War 2. Given all the permutations, Yamazaki alone can produce an astounding one hundred different styles of single malt whisky. The company’s blenders must do the impossible, bringing together that dizzying array of whiskies to craft what are amongst the world’s most sought-after single malt expressions.

Despite being the center of attention of the Japanese whisky world for as long as anyone remembers, both Yamazaki and Hakushu were closed to visitors during much of 2023. That period allowed both distilleries to reintroduce floor malting on the production side, but for visitors, the visitor centers’ tasting lounges steal the show. The days of simply being able to show up and get on a tour are long gone: visitors must enter a lottery well before their visit and cross their fingers they get a spot. Also gone are the days of enjoying copious amounts of the likes of Yamazaki 25 or Hibiki 21 at cost. Visitors are now limited to three samples per order.

Suntory may be relatively new to pitching whisky to an international audience as a luxury brand. Still, when it comes to tapping into that fear of missing out, it appears they know what they’re doing. The “crown jewel” Yamazaki 18 Mizunara saw a re-release as a 100th Anniversary Edition in 2023, and more standard releases like the non-age-statement (NAS) Yamazaki also saw some 100th anniversary livery. However, the canned Ready-to-Drink (RTD) highballs raised some eyebrows, coming in at 9% abv for 600 yen for either the Yamazaki or Hakushu releases.

On the SDGs front, Suntory recently announced they successfully made a batch of new make using hydrogen to heat the still in a direct-fire distillation at their distillation laboratory in Yamazaki. Eventually, they want to be able to do so commercially, not just in Japan: the UK government partially funded the project in the hopes that Suntory can also shift their distilleries in Scotland over to hydrogen heating. 

Nozawa Onsen Distillery

Production of new make began at the Nozawa Onsen Distillery in May 2023. The village it calls home in Nagano Prefecture hosts around 500,000 visitors yearly, with hot springs, mountains, hotels, and a great bar scene. The company behind the distillery has been part of the local community for decades, so constructing a destination distillery feels only natural. A visit to the distillery should be part of a days-long visit to the area, but a day trip from Tokyo is also easily doable via bullet train.

While Nozawa Onsen Distillery has already been making a name for itself with gin, the whisky operation is also shaping up to be exciting. For the time being, the Nozawa Onsen Distillery is the only whisky distillery in Japan that uses a mash filter. Instead of a traditional mash tun, this physical separation of mashing and filtration enables Nozawa Onsen to distill “on the grain” with unfiltered wash.

Ontake Distillery

Perched atop a mountain overlooking Kagoshima Bay, the stunningly attractive Ontake Distillery released its first single malt Japanese whisky in November 2023. Ontake is well-known for only using sherry casks for maturation, and “Ontake The First Edition 2023” offers sherry bomb lovers a glimpse of the distillery’s potential over the next few years. Most of the total output at the Ontake Distillery is devoted to private cask owners, so general public releases like this one will likely be rare going forward.

Tomakomai Distillery

Rumors of Venture Whisky’s aspirations to build a larger third distillery in Hokkaido had circled for years. These rumors were finally confirmed in April 2023. The unnamed distillery in Tomakomai, Hokkaido, is slated to go online in spring 2025 and will churn out around 2.4 million liters of new make annually. Venture Whisky’s malt whisky operations will remain at the Chichibu distilleries in Saitama Prefecture, and the new Hokkaido distillery will make only corn-based grain whisky to feed the world’s insatiable demand for Ichiro’s malt and grain.

IJW Chitose Distillery

Hokkaido is rapidly emerging as a hotspot for new Japanese whisky distilleries. Japan’s business daily Nikkei revealed in April 2023 that US-based IJW Whiskey plans to construct a massive distillery in Chitose, Hokkaido, with a planned output of 20 million liters per year. That capacity will make it one of the largest whisky distilleries in Japan. 

Mt. Fuji Distillery

Kirin’s Mt. Fuji Distillery–formerly known as the Fuji Gotemba Distillery–celebrated its 50th year of operation in 2023. To commemorate the occasion, the company released “Single Malt Japanese Whisky Fuji” alongside 50th-anniversary editions of that bottle, then a 50th-anniversary edition of their single blended whisky. The latter is not a phrase that is often heard, but it’s one that Kirin has coined because they can make single malt and single grain whisky at the same distillery and then blend them after maturation on-site. This lineup gives Kirin a single malt whisky, a single grain whisky, and a single blended whisky, all from the same distillery. 

Nikka

On the note of grain whisky, Nikka’s release of “Nikka The Grain” in March 2023 started a new chapter for the company as it celebrates its 90th anniversary in 2024. The Grain brings together Coffey malt and grain whiskies from Miyagikyo, Coffey malt and grain whiskies from Nishinomiya (the location of the Coffey still until 1998), then grain whiskies from both Nikka’s Moji Plant and Satsuma Tsukasa Distillery. Those last two distilleries might be unfamiliar to many, but since Nikka The Grain uses unmalted barley, corn, and rye-based whiskies from them in the blend, there is a lot to look forward to.

Kanosuke Distillery/Hioki Distillery

Still on grain, December 2023 saw the release of “Kanosuke Hioki Pot Still,” a grain whisky from Hioki Distillery, a sister distillery to Kanosuke. The Hioki Distillery is tasked with making parent company Komasa Jyozo’s shochu and gin, but they make grain whisky the rest of the year. In a recurring theme for Japanese craft grain whisky, the two shochu stills at Hioki are made of stainless steel, giving this one an intense rye-whisky-like punch. Or perhaps it’s the 51% alcohol-by-volume bottling strength. It’s no secret that the Hioki Distillery was set up expressly to supply grain whisky to Kanosuke to blend with their malt, making a Japanese blended whisky. That release, dubbed “Double Distilleries,” is due in April 2024.

Hinokami Distillery

Also in Kagoshima, shochu powerhouse Satsuma Shuzo kicked off whisky distillation at the company’s Hinokami Distillery in 2023. Satsuma Shuzo is unique amongst shochu distilleries in that it has an in-house cooperage used for crafting casks to mature the company’s famous barley shochu, Kaminoko. Of course, it plans to use the cooperage for its whisky operation, giving it a significant advantage over smaller distilleries that outsource maintenance and management of casks. Satsuma Shuzo is a group company of the Hombo Shuzo family, and rumors were swirling that the Hinokami Distillery would be producing grain whisky for use in various Mars Whisky products. Those rumors are likely to prove true since, apart from the Miyake pot stills for malt whisky, the Hinokami Distillery has been using a continuous still to make grain whisky. With the Mars Shinshu Distillery, Mars Tsunuki Distillery, Hinokami Distillery, and Yamaga Distillery, Hinokami is now the fourth whisky distillery under the Hombo family umbrella. 

Osuzuyama Distillery

In neighboring Miyazaki Prefecture, the Osuzyama Distillery departs from standard Scotch-style whisky production by introducing shochu-making elements into their processes. The Osuzuyama Distillery has been making shochu since 1998, but 2019 whisky production kicked off. In a rarity for Japanese whisky, all of the Osuzuyama Distillery’s barley is sourced from a 42-hectare plot of land owned by the company. Their “box malting” approach utilizes stainless steel vats churned by hand when making malt. During distillation, Osuzuyama uses steam injection to agitate the wash in the same stainless steel pot stills used for distilling shochu. The wood is perhaps the most significant interest for whisky drinkers, though. 2023 saw the release of “Osuzuyama Malt Chestnut Barrel” and “Osuzyama Malt Cedar Barrel,” matured in American oak casks with heads replaced with heads made from Miyazaki-grown wood. The JSLMA guidelines require Japanese whisky to be matured in wooden casks; it does not need to be oak. 

Komoro Distillery

The Komoro Distillery began producing new make in May 2023 at the foot of Mt. Asama in Nagano Prefecture. Co-founder Ian Chang is naturally tinkering with everything from yeast cocktails to bottling strength, and so far, the best descriptor is “balanced.” Things are up and running as a destination for distillery tours, masterclasses, and the Whisky Academy.

In February 2024, Komoro also hosted the first-ever World Whisky Forum in Asia. This event brought together people from across the globe from the whisky industry to spend three days discussing whisky as a business. Komoro also used the opportunity to dedicate their whisky warehouses as “Jim Swan House,” after the late Dr. Jim Swan, Ian Chang’s mentor.

While they may still be years away from an initial single malt release, the Komoro Distillery is keen on making its presence known throughout the whisky world.

Ikawa Distillery

In 2023, Shizuoka Prefecture’s Ikawa Distillery released three newborns: a 50ppm peated, a 30ppm peated, and a non-peated version. The distillery is located deep in the mountains of Shizuoka. It’s one of Japan’s largest unbroken pieces of private property, around four times the area of everything within Tokyo’s famed Yamanote line. The story goes that, with the construction of JR’s new maglev bullet train slated to slice under the land, parent company Tokushu Tokai Paper was looking for new ways to utilize the space. They decided to build a whisky distillery. At an elevation of 1200 meters above sea level, it’s also Japan’s highest distillery — the elevation lowers the boiling point of alcohol during distillation by 4° Celsius. Of course, having a paper company as a parent company has its benefits. In 2021, the distillery began using wood from trees on their property to make mizunara and chestnut casks.

Sakurao Distillery

In 2021, Hiroshima-based Sakurao Brewery & Distillery announced plans to convert their entire product line to Japanese whisky, fully compliant with the JSLMA guidelines. In 2023, they delivered on that promise by releasing four bottles of “Togouchi” Blended Japanese whisky, including expressions finished in sake or beer casks. The Sakurao Distillery started distilling grain whisky alongside malt whisky in-house in 2019, allowing them to have a “single blended” whisky. It looks like the company also has big plans for expansion as well, as 2023 saw the announcement of the construction of the “Sakurao Yoshida Whisky Park,” a whisky theme park whose main feature will be a distillery roughly twice the size of the current Sakurao Distillery. Construction is scheduled to finish in autumn 2025.