Yamazaki Distillery

山崎蒸留所 / Yamazaki Jōryū-sho

Save for the love of a good Scottish woman, the history of Japanese whisky might have been very different indeed.

Established in 1923 by successful wine importer Shinjiro Torii, Yamazaki can lay claim to be the first, and essentially the original Japanese malt whisky distillery. Situated in the highly wooded area above the Kansai plain, the distillery sits on the outskirts of Kyoto. It was here that a true whisky revolution began when Torii employed Taketsuru Masataka, an organic chemist who had learned the art of whisky distillation whilst studying in Scotland.  Masataka drew on his own experiences whilst working at the Hazelburn distillery in Campbeltown. There, he also met and married Miss Jessie ‘Rita’ Cowan and eagerly travelled back to Japan with her, despite both of their parents’ displeasure- intent on producing the first Japanese malt whisky. Yamazaki takes its water supply from a convergence of 3 rivers, the Katsura, Kizu and Uji, priding themselves on the fact that one of the great masters of the Japanese tea ceremony- Sen no Rikyu also situated his tea house nearby many years before.