Hakushu Distillery in pictures
Situated on the slopes of Mount Kaikomagatake in Japan’s Yamanashi Prefecture, Hakushu Distillery was built by Japanese drinks group Suntory in 1973. Keizo Saji, son of Suntory founder Shinjiro Torii, spearheaded the build of the distillery and later pioneered the growth of single malt Japanese whisky in the 1980s. Similar to Yamazaki, Hakushu’s location was selected for its plentiful and high-quality water source. Suntory even bases its mineral water operations in the same area.
Hakushu Distillery is one of Suntory’s three Japanese whisky distilleries, which also include Yamazaki and Chita. While Hakuhsu and Yamazaki make liquid for the company’s malt portfolio, Chita creates grain whisky for blends and also the recently released namesake single grain expression.
Hakushu – which boasts an extensive visitor experience, whisky museum and bird sanctuary – expanded its capacity in 2014 amid booming demand for Japanese whisky, adding two pairs of stills, bringing its total to eight pairs.
The distillery is known for its smoky flavour profile whisky, using Scottish peat. While Suntory previously peated malt in Japan, the producer now imports the malt from Scotland already peated. Pictured is the distillery’s one large mash tun.
From the mash tun, the liquid is transferred to wooden washbacks, of which there are 18 at Hakushu. Here, Hakushu whisky is typically fermented for three days in the vessels, which are said to offer “super heat retention”.
Similar to Yamazaki, Hakushi’s stillhouse features an assortment of different still shapes, creating multiple styles of whisky. However, at Hakushu there are essentially two broad styles of still – traditional copper pot and a more unusual bulging style, which is said to offer a lighter style of whisky. Unlike Scotland, Japanese whisky distilleries often contain different types of stills as there is no culture of trading, buying and selling whisky for blends in Japan. Each individual producer must ensure they produce varied liquid suited to their different blends.
Hakushu also has on-site maturation warehouses that store 20,000 of Suntory’s 1m whisky casks. Yamazaki also has some ageing facilities, but the majority of Suntory’s casks are kept at a dedicated maturation complex in Omi, in the Shiga Prefecture.
Unlike the traditional dunnage style of warehouse at Yamazaki, Hakushu has a large racked system of cask storage.
SB’s tour finished with a tasting of different Hakushu whisky styles and cask varieties, giving visitors insight into how multiple components create the flavour of this distinct single malt.
