Japanese whisky turns 100 as craft distilleries transform industry
21/11/2023 01:01
By Rocky Swift and Chris Gallagher
SHIZUOKA CITY, Japan, Nov 21 (Reuters) - In a still
fuelled by cedar from nearby forests, Shizuoka Distillery, a
leader in Japan's new wave of independent whisky makers, crafts
its spirits to tap into surging global demand.
This year marks the 100 year anniversary of whisky making in
Japan since the founding of market leader Suntory's first
distillery in Yamazaki in 1923.
And at the century mark, there are now more than 100
licensed distilleries in the country - twice as much as 10 years
ago - with each one vying to make its mark in a rapidly
expanding market.
The cedar fire - which Shizuoka claims is the world's only
wood fuelled blaze beneath a whisky still - is one of several
novelties these distilleries are using to set themselves apart.
And even though their businesses are small compared to
drinks giants like Suntory, their ambitions are world-class.
Taiko Nakamura, 54, was inspired to set up Shizuoka
Distillery in 2016 by a trip to Scotland.
"I saw this distillery, and I was amazed that this tiny
place in the mountainous countryside was selling whisky across
the globe," he said. "So I thought it would be fun to make my
own whisky and then have people from all over the world enjoy
it."
The explosion of craft whisky in Japan follows a boom and
bust in the industry.
QUALITY OVER QUANTITY
Long viewed as an inferior copycat of Scotch, Japanese
single malts and blended whiskies started racking up
international awards around 2008, sparking intense global demand
that effectively drank the supply dry by around 2015.
The shortage sent prices into the stratosphere. A set of 54
bottles from Ichiro's Malt, a trailblazer in Japanese craft
whisky, sold for $1.5 million in 2020 at a Hong Kong auction.
Last week, Sotheby's offered what it claimed was the most
valuable collection of Japanese whisky at auction, headlined by
a 52-year old bottle that sold for 300,000 pounds ($373,830).
Major makers Suntory and Nikka, a unit of beer maker Asahi
Group 2502.T , have spent the past decade ramping up capacity
and stock of the spirit, which must age for at least three years
to qualify as "Japanese whisky," under 2021 standards.
Suntory, Japan's biggest and best-known whisky maker,
recently invested 10 billion yen ($67 million) to upgrade its
distilleries, including its Yamazaki site.
Chief blender Shinji Fukuyo said he welcomes the new breed
of Japanese distillers, and Suntory is willing to give advice to
the startups "as long as it contributes to maintaining and
improving the quality of Japanese whisky as a whole".
Foreign money is flowing into the market too. In 2021,
global drinks giant Diageo bought an undisclosed stake in Komasa
Kanosuke Distillery, established in 2017 by a maker of
traditional shochu liquor.
IJW Whiskey Company, a Kentucky-based company, set up a
Japanese subsidiary known as Cedarfield that is building a
distillery on the northern island of Hokkaido that would be
Japan's biggest, the Nikkei newspaper reported in March.
A Cedarfield representative declined to comment on the
company's plans.
But with new supply hitting the market and from so many new
players, some in the industry have voiced concerns that poor
quality product could spoil Japan's reputation.
"That's a real fear in the industry," said Casey Wahl, an
American expatriate who founded Kamui Whisky on the remote
island of Rishiri in Japan's extreme northern boundary.
Shizuoka's Nakamura says makers like him can only respect
the process and wait for the results.
"I believe we need to put all our effort into making
Japanese whisky that lives up to the quality of the Japanese
whiskies made by our predecessors," he said.
($1=150 yen)($1=0.80 pounds)
(Reporting by Rocky Swift; editing by Miral Fahmy)
((rocky.swift@thomsonreuters.com;))