Shinjiro Torii and Masataka Taketsuru shared a common vision about the founding of a distillery that would be dedicated to whisky production. In 1923 this vision became reality with the founding of Yamazaki Distillery.

Taketsuru studied in Scotland and learned the art of whisky distilling in Scottish distilleries and Torii was already importing western spirits for years. These facts lead to a misunderstanding: Of course both of them were inspired by Scotch Whisky, it makes sense that when you need to learn something you have to go visit the best that can teach you.

But their vision never included the creation of a product similar to the Scotch Whisky. They wanted to create a whisky with unique character, unique features that would embody the years of history, culture and natural beauty of their homeland. They wanted to create a Japanese Whisky.

And that’s exactly what they did and still Japanese distilleries continue to do. Perfection through simplicity is a common goal in Japanese society and that’s one of the main characteristics in Japanese Whisky.

Unfortunately the 8 operating distilleries in Japan seem too few to keep up with the world’s demand for Japanese Whisky these days, but still the journey to explore it offers several exciting destinations.