Distilling the Secrets of Japanese Whisky

Bottles of whisky are lined up at Bar Cordon Noir in Kyoto.

Whisky glasses are brilliantly illuminated at Suntory’s Yamazaki Distillery in Osaka Prefecture.

Venture Whisky’s Akuto Ichirō samples whisky at the Chichibu Distillery.

Mizunara is one of the rarest oak trees in the world, and trees must be over 150 years old to be big enough for use in whisky cask-making. Japanese distilleries have used mizunara casks since the 1930s. Aging whisky in mizunara is said to impart notes of coconut, aloe wood, cinnamon, and Asian spices.

Shintō garlands known as shimenawa adorn pot stills at Nikka’s Yoichi Distillery in Hokkaidō.

Nikka's Yoichi Distillery in Yoichi, Hokkaidō, is usually blanketed in deep snow in winter.