Hakushu Distillery

Hakashu, owned by Suntory built the distillery in 1973 at the foothills of Mount Kaikomagatake, Japan's Southern Alps. In 1981, the Hakashu East was built and the original, Hakashu West, is now utilised to store its twenty-four stills. Additional stills were built at Hakashu distillery in 2014 to further diversify whisky making in the future. The skill of the blenders is a testament to the success of Hakashu expressions. The blenders individually evaluate the extent of maturation in each cask, by doing so they can ultimately determine which whiskies embody the right characteristics to be blended into a final product.

Part of the whisky produced goes through a bamboo charcoal filtration process and draws fresh water from its mountainous reserves. In 2006, Hakashu 18 Year Old claimed the title at the prestigious International Spirits Challenge. Since then, the world-renowned Hakashu 12 Year Old has claimed Gold at the World Whiskies Awards in 2016, the International Whisky Competition in 2015 and Jim Murray's Whisky Bible in 2014. v