Japanese whiskey for beginners - a guide

As some of you have asked when I was doing my recent reviews. Today I present you a little bit of history and lesson about how Japan became famous for whiskey and joined to be a global leader in that game.

Whiskey in Japan

Whiskey has managed to establish itself in Japan as a uniquely distilled alcoholic drink from the west. Initially, Scottish and Irish bottling was imported but at the beginning of the 20th century, Japan developed its own whiskey industry — and culture. Even though Japan had started out most recently of all the important whiskey nations, it has managed in a very short time to advance to the top of the world in both quality as well as quantity. Over time, Japan had founded several distilleries that have yielded high-quality distillates and won world renown prices for there whiskeys.

Historical overview of Japanese whiskey

Imported whiskey was drunk for the first time in the late 18th century. Its strong and full flavor evoked their native sake (rice spirit). The samurai especially preferred the drink because it was expensive and rare. Whiskey became the status symbol of the upper crust and grew into a trendy drink.

Today, the Japanese are among the largest whiskey consumers in the world. Japanese whiskey history began in 1899 with imitations of imported whiskey by Shinjiro Torii, who later was the founder of Suntory. In 1923 he had the first whiskey distillery in Japan built in Yamazaki. The second biggest pioneer in the area of Japanese whiskey was Masataka Taketsuru, who in 1918 traveled to Scotland to learn about whiskey manufacturing. Back in Japan he became a manager at Suntory. In 1934, he founded his own company that in 1940 under the name Nikka, brought its first whiskey to market. Today, Suntory and Nikka are still the two biggest whiskey producers in Japan.

Good Introduction Video into Japanese Whiskey culture and history

Characteristics of Japanese whiskey

Japanese whiskey is very distinct in taste but basically resembles Scotch whiskey, not least due to the fact that it it produced based on their model. But in no way can one talk of imitations. Around half of the distilleries produce malt whiskey. The rest specialize in grain whiskey since even in Japan the majority of whiskey run in blends. All Japanese whiskeys have a mild flavor.

Let me know in the comments if you have any questions and if you have already experienced Japanese​ whiskeys on your own ?

Happy drinking :)

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