Nikka Yoichi Distillery (ニッカウヰスキー 余市蒸留所)

When you come to Yoichi, you would definitely be visiting the Nikka distillery. Yoichi was the place chosen by Masataka Taketsuru (竹鶴政孝) for whiskey making. Taketsuru was the first Japanese to master whiskey making in Scotland, and was considered the Father of Japanese Whiskey.

Before starting in Yoichi, he worked in another company that set up a whiskey distillery in Yamazaki. This company later changed its name to Suntory. It was said that one of the biggest differences between Scotland and Nikka whiskey making was that the workers who joined the Japanese distillery spent their entire careers there.

You could walk around compound, following the whiskey making process. There were Still House, Kiln Tower, Saccharification House, Wash House, Barrel House, etc.

The beard man on Nikka "King of Blenders" whisky was said to be Scottish blender William Phaup Lowrie. Lowrie was thought to have started the idea of seasoning new casks with sherry instead of used sherry-seasoned barrels.

You could have free tasting of 2 kinds of whiskies at the Nikka Kaikan, near the carpark. There was another drinking place in the Museum where you could pay to taste other whiskies.

For whiskies lovers, this would be an interesting place to visit. At the gift shop, we found 500ml distillery-only whiskies. Seems a trend to bottle in smaller bottles :(



Website: https://www.nikka.com/distilleries/yoichi/