While many distilleries import their ingredients, Suntory is not transparent in where all of their ingredients come from. All three are full operationally today and Yamazaki and Hakushu are both available for tours and visits! The House of Suntory Whisky now has three distilleries: the original that opened in 1923: Yamazaki, Chita, which opened in 1972, and Hakushu, which opened in 1973. He opened Yamazaki that year and began his life’s work. Shinjiro Torii started the first Japanese whisky distillery in 1923, intent on bringing the nuances of a traditional scotch to the Japanese market. While Japanese whisky is relatively new on American shelves, it has been made in Japan since the 1920’s. Therefore, the ingredients in a Japanese scotch are largely in fact Scottish. So what do they do? They import! That’s right, while barley is planted and grown in Japan, most of the Japanese scotch process begins with importing whatever ingredients the specific distillery requires for them to produce scotch. The big thing to remember here is that Japan does not have the volume of natural resources that Scotland does when it comes to producing the barley, oak, and peat to create a scotch with ingredients solely from Japan. Of course, the answer is yes because we do call this a Japanese scotch, not something entirely unique from scotch. I believe wholeheartedly that this was intentional.īut the question is: can you consider a scotch made in Japan a true scotch? And the answer is yes. I like to consider the fact that Japanese Whisky and Suntory Whisky Toki specifically spells the word “whisky” without an “e” is a respectful nod to the Scottish roots of their product. At this point, it comes down to the distillery’s preference more than anything else but is most certainly a nod to the Scottish roots of whisky development. Whisky without an “e” was a choice made a long time ago for Scottish distillers, while their neighbors in Ireland chose to spell whiskey with the “e”.Īmerica followed suit for the most part, with obvious exceptions, as there always is. So what exactly makes a Japanese Whisky, how did Japan begin making it, and why is it so good?įirstly, we need to address the genre of scotch, which includes addressing the choice in spelling the word “whisky” without an “e”. A History of Japanese Whiskyīeing a small island, Japan doesn’t have a ton of space to grow grains and harvest oak for aging. You will see the term “single malt” often on a scotch bottle, this simply means that the product comes from only one distillery. Scotch is often a blend of different barrels to produce the best taste, but their age must be noted on the bottle according to the youngest whisky in the blend. It is aged at least three years in an oak barrel. Scotch is made with malted barley, but its mash bill can also contain other grains. Those regions are Speyside, Lowlands, Highlands, Campbeltown, and Islay. Scotch whisky comes from one of the five regions in Scotland which produce vastly different versions of scotch. As a noun, it is a whisky made in Scotland. The word “scotch” itself as an adjective is defined as “Scottish” or from Scotland.
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