Whisky is something special. In terms of process, it almost has the destiny of becoming beer before it is heated in a pot still to the point of becoming an invisible vapor that later cools and condenses into a crystal clear liquid.
From there, this ‘low wine’ is distilled again and becomes the high proof, pungent distillate known as ‘white dog’ or grain spirit. White dog becomes whisky (in Japan and Scotland) after it has aged for three years in a barrel. This barrel could be new wood from the United States or France; it could be an ex-Sherry or ex-Bourbon cask. But most importantly, the cask must be made from oak. Upon reaching the minimum aging period, the master blender must decide to bottle it as a single cask or to blend the contents of the cask with the contents of other casks to create a much larger, much more consistent single malt bottling. A third option is to blend different types of malted barley or even a corn spirit for character and nuance.
This process and concept has existed in Scotland (by way of Ireland) for a long, long time in some shape or form for centuries. This means Japan was late into the game and wasn’t producing anything of a modern-style whisky until the first Suntory White label was introduced to Kyoto and the rest of Japan in 1929. While Nikka whisky celebrates Masataka Taketsuru as the creator of Japanese Whisky, if he didn’t have his time to butt heads with Suntory founder Shinjiro Torii over creative differences, he may not have ended up settling in the surf town of Yoichi in Hokkaido.
However, he did not make his initial trip to Scotland where he studied Scotch whisky on his own. He was sent by a small company that later lost interest in Taketsuru’s project while he was on the other side of the world. Maybe they didn’t like him falling in love with a ginger and studying chemistry, and they expected greater, faster output from him. Regardless, it was Shinjiro Torii that caught wind of Taketsuru’s travels and invited him back to work on the building of a new distillery in Kyoto.
Japanese whisky wasn’t always for the Japanese. In early 20th century leading through the wars, it was often the Navy of Japan or other nations, that frequented the ports with a thirst for brown spirits. At that time, they were drinking ‘Scotch’ made in Japan. Later, the ‘Scotch’ became Japanese Whisky and by the middle of the century, Nikka and Suntory were established brands.
When I went to Yamazaki distillery in Kyoto for the first time, I was impressed by the statue of Mr. Torii, cast in bronze, outside of one of the distillery buildings. When I went to Yoichi distillery in Hokkaido, naturally, the statue was of a different mould, it was the body of Masataka Taketsuru. It leads me to wonder, who is the godfather of Japanese Whisky? Maybe Torii started the movement with the building of Yamazaki in 1924 but maybe it was Taketsuru and the founding of Yoichi that created the competition and innovation – his journey started when he went to Scotland in 1919.
My friend Stefan Van Eycken has an excellent blog on Japanese Whisky, nonjatta.com. On his site, he writes about a man named Keizo Saji. Saji was Torii’s second son and while Torii had the initial motivation and passion for all things alcoholic (his initial imports were European wines and brandies in the very late 19th century into the 20th), it was actually Saji who helped form Suntory, and transform their initial name of Kotobukiya into the derivative of his fathers name; Shinjiro Torii was always called Torii San and Saji eventually came up with Suntory as his own homage to his father.
However, Saji did more than just change the name of the company, he brought us such whisky innovations as Hibiki, the now legendary whisky that was seen in Bill Murray’s hand in movie Lost in Translation. He also introduced the Yamazaki Single Malt in 1984 and Japanese Whisky never looked back. Today and in the last thirty years, Japanese whiskies continue to win gold medals in competitions in categories ranging from Blended where Hibiki cleans up to the Single Malt category where Yamazaki is often recognized as some of the world’s best.
Of course, more recently, the Yamazaki Sherry Cask 2013 won the world’s Best Whisky Award in Jim Murray’s Whisky Bible and that catapulted the reputation of Japanese Whisky to new heights.
With all of this in mind, who is the real champion of Japanese Whisky? Is it the father or son of Suntory? Is it the hard-working Taketsuru? If you ask me, it has to start with one man’s ambition and I don’t think any of this would have happened without the sheer passion and liver of Shinjiro Torii. His stubbornness and determination to explore the world of alcoholic beverages outside of his isolationist home state of Japan is inspiring to say the least.
Consider that he opened his first store in 1899, selling international wines and sundries – my trip to Hakushu distillery taught me that he had a particular love for fortified wines such as Port and he launched his first domestic wine, Akadama Port Wine back in 1907 when people were still allowed to call a wine Port when it was produced outside of Portugal’s Duoro Valley.
It is the wine retail, the Akadama wine and the construction of Yamazaki distillery starting from 1923, as well as his encounters and relationships with people like Masataka Taketsuru that make me a Suntory – or more appropriately – Shinjiro Torii loyalist for life. Even my friend Ichiro Akuto of Chichibu distillery, now considered one of whisky’s great artisans, worked for Suntory before building his distillery.
Even then, he had the ambition to name his wine Akadama after the red clayish soil where he grew his grapes. In the end, the wine was not reputed to be outstanding…I was lucky enough to come across a bottle and I am still waiting for the right time to bring it out of my wine fridge – I’ll make sure I have some stilton near by. And a bottle of Yamazaki 18-Year-Old Single Malt.
Photo 1:Akadama dessert wine; Photo 2: Shinjiro Torii
Contributing Editor Elliot Faber is the beverage director of two cool Japanese restaurants in Hong Kong – Yardbird and Ronin – as well as Sunday’s Grocery. He is also one of the world’s experts on sake, Japanese whisky, shochu, awamori and Japanese beer.
