Hakushu: The other Japanese whisky
Three years ago, I visited Kyoto, Japan and went to this proud country’s first commercial distillery (it opened in 1923), the now renowned Yamazaki Distillery. I wrote briefly about the history of the distillery, and revealed the first “outside of Japan” scoop on the huge popularity of a 2015 local TV series under NHK called Massan that may have been instrumental in reviving local Japanese whisky consumption. Massan was a top-rated daily 15-minute series roughly based on Suntory founder Shinjiro Torii’s protégé Masataka Taketsuru’s exploits as a whisky genius and his marriage to a Scottish woman. The show developed a cult following because of its unusual love story between a Japanese man and a Caucasian woman. With whisky as a backdrop, the show appealed to the younger generation and women in general, who previously were not into whiskies. I got this scoop by coincidence because I was in Japan at the height of the popularity of the series.
It also helped the promotions of whisky too that Japanese whiskies including Yamazaki and Hakushu ( Suntory’s other whisky brand) had been winning awards and accolades from the most reputable international whisky competitions in the last decade and a half.
THE SECOND SUNTORY DISTILLERY
Yamazaki Distillery is located at the foot of Mt. Tennozan in southwestern Kyoto. When Suntory was looking to expand to a second distillery, the company wanted another location that could produce another type of whisky with its own water source for mashing and one that could impart distinctive flavors. It took 50 years and under the second president of the company, Keizo Saji, before Suntory built its second distillery in 1973. The chosen location was at the foot of Mt. Kai-komagatake in the Southern Japan Alps, in Yamanashi Prefecture, Chūbu region, Japan. Around 3,000 meters above sea level, and with the benefit of arguably the purest and cleanest water in Japan, the Hakushu Distillery was the ideal setup for Suntory’s second expression of whisky making. The distillery is also known as Suntory’s Mountain Forest Distillery.
I had the chance to visit this distillery, some two hours away from downtown Tokyo, during my last trip to Japan.
THE HAKUSHU GUIDED TOUR
Around 3,000 meters above sea level, and with arguably the purest water in Japan, the Hakushu Distillery was the ideal set-up for Suntory’s second expression of whisky making.
Being at the distillery at the tail-end of winter was extremely nice and very picturesque with plenty of views of snow-clad mountains. There are over 10 mountains in the Southern Japan Alps including Mt. Kitadake and Mt. Senjogatake.
Inside the huge Hakushu compound, you will find a Whisky Museum, a gift shop called In The Barrel, the White Terrace restaurant (where I had a nice lunch with a special beef stew), and the Hakushu Bar where whiskies of even other brands can be ordered. The Hakushu Distillery also offers guided tours, and our group took part in one of these tours.
The tour came with a tour guide who sadly spoke only Nihongo, but every tour guest does get an English audio translator unit and earpiece to be able to cope with the guide. Each tour is roughly 90 minutes long and includes everything about whisky making to actual tasting. Our group was first sent to a huge briefing room to be given simple instructions for the tour, as well as information on the history of the distillery with special mention of the pristine waters of Hakushu that made the whiskies special. After the briefing, the tour guide started his explanation on the whisky making process. We were then brought to a small room showcasing the raw ingredients in making whisky. Basically these are grains, notably barleys to produce malt and peated malt. I even recalled the guide saying that their barleys are all imported from Scotland. Afterwards the group was escorted inside the distillery proper and had close-up views of all the different equipment used for whisky making. We were taken to the mashing process area then to the fermentation area. Each area has monitors with video presentations and the guide would expound on the whisky process each stop.
One of the unique Hakushu methods is probably the wooden washbacks. As explained by the guide, Hakushu prefers the use of wooden washbacks during fermentation because of these vessels’ superior heat retention. The wash produced during fermentation is transferred to pot stills to undergo the distillation process twice. The pot stills come in different shapes and sizes, and affect the flavors of the alcohol concentrate it churns out.
We completed our tour of the inside of the distillery by passing by the huge barrel area, or cask maturation area, where I was in awe of not only the size and number of casks, but also the strong fragrance in the area — a potpourri of forest, dark chocolate, charred wood, and complex bouquets. The fragrance was unlike anything I had smelled in my visits to dozens and dozens of winery barrel rooms. There are a few casks with transparent glass sides to show the color and even the “angel’s share” of these aged whiskies