Yamazaki Whisky Museum & Distillery Tour
Yamazaki Whisky Museum & Distillery Tour: the home of Japanese whisky is Yamazaki near Kyoto where you can visit the Yamazaki Japanese Whisky Museum and take a tour of Japan's oldest distillery.
Yamazaki Whisky Museum & Distillery Tour サントリー山崎ウイスキー館
Jake Davies
The Suntory Distillery in Yamazaki near Kyoto
Japanese Whisky Museum at the Yamazaki Distillery
The home of Japanese whisky is Yamazaki near Kyoto where you can visit the Yamazaki Japanese Whisky Museum and take a tour of Japan's oldest distillery.
Japanese whisky is enjoying unprecedented popularity both domestically and internationally. Within Japan the TV drama Massan which aired in 2014-15 and was a fictional account of the story of whisky in Japan.
Scotswoman Rita Taketsuru married Masataka Taketsuru, a Japanese entrepreneur who was involved in setting up Japan's first commercial distillery here in Yamazaki. He then went on to found his own which became the Nikka brand. Nikka claims domestic sales of its whiskey went up 50% due to the TV show.
Internationally, Japanese whisky has been winning prizes consistently in international competitions for the past few years. Furthermore, it seems that demand is starting to exceed supply. Several Japanese whisky producers have started to take some brands off the market as production has not kept pace with demand.
Second Floor of the Whisky Museum in Yamazaki
The "Whisky Library" at the Suntory Whisky Museum in Yamazaki
Japan's First Commercial Distillery
One place you can be sure of getting a taste of some Japanese whisky, though, is the Whisky Museum at the Suntory Yamazaki Distillery. Founded in 1923, this is Japan's first commercial distillery and, along with several breweries, was built in Yamazaki to take advantage of the quality of the local water. It was founded by Shinjiro Torii, and the company later was named Suntory.
The museum has two floors of exhibition space as well as a shop and a tasting counter. There is no entry fee but reservations are mandatory. On the first floor are displays chronicling the history of Suntory and it's founder.
Also, there are exhibits on the processes involved in distilling whisky including the tasting and blending. The "Whisky Library" is where thousands of bottles of the different blends and vintages of Suntory whisky are displayed. Here is also the tasting counter where, for a fee, different whiskys can be sampled. Leading off from the counter area is a pleasant patio space with tables and seats.
The tasting counter, where for a price, different whiskys or their components can be sampled
Tours of the distillery begin on the second floor of the Whisky Museum in Yamazaki
The second floor continues with more exhibits and a large shop selling not only whiskys but various types of gifts. Tours of the distillery begin on the second floor at a display showing the whole process of whisky making.
The tours are in Japanese, but when there are foreign guests some English is spoken, however a free audio guide in English is available and it gives a clear, detailed description of everything you see on the tour.
The tour heads first into the mashing and fermentation building where huge vats of wood or stainless steel hold the fermenting liquid. It is somewhat warm with a distinct aroma. Next you pass through the distillery with huge copper stills and an oppressive heat and the overpowering smell of whiskey.
A longer time is spent in the huge, dark, cavern-like warehouses where thousands and thousands of casks, each with a date on them, sit and age for years and years. It is a little cooler here but the aroma is again strong.
After about fifty minutes you end up in a hall with a large screen and tables set with samples of whiskeys for the tasting segment of the tour. Full English instructions are available as you are shown how to taste some of the component whiskeys before finally being given full instruction on how to make a highball cocktail. For myself, not a whisky drinker, this was the least interesting part of the tour, but I was most certainly in the minority.
Huge wooden tanks called "washbacks" where the initial fermentation of making whisky takes place
A variety of different stills in the distillery section of the Yamazaki Whisky Distillery
Reservations
After the tour you head to the shop, but for some of the whiskys on sale there is a strict limit of one per customer. Also it should be noted that anyone arriving by car or even bicycle will not be allowed on the tour due to the alcohol consumption.
Entry to the museum is free and the distillery tour costs 1,000 yen. Reservations for both are needed and can be made in English at the phone number and website listed below. Reservations are often filled well in advance, but cancellations occur frequently so keep checking and spaces may appear.
The warehouse where casks of Suntory Whisky sit and age before being blended
The tasting hall where tour members learn about the work of tasters and blenders who create Suntory whiskys
Access
Yamazaki Whisky Museum www.suntory.com/factory/yamazaki/facility
5 Chome-2-1, Yamazaki
Shimamoto-cho
Mishima-gun
Osaka 618-0001
Tel: 075 962 1423
A 10 minute walk from Yamazaki Station on the JR Tokaido Line or a 15 minute walk from Oyamazaki Station on the Hankyu Kyoto Line between Osaka and Kyoto.
The Asahi Beer Oyamazaki Villa Museum of Art is a short walk away.
2 component whiskys and a 2 single malt whiskys to be enjoyed at the end of the tour
