Whisky The Yamazaki 18 Years Mizunara - 100th Anniversary Edition

Suntory

Fine Japanese whisky house

The story of this world-renowned whisky house began in 1918, when a Japanese company called Settsu Shuzo decided to start producing a local whisky, with the aim of initiating Japanese audiences to Scottish whisky. Back then, it was nearly impossible for customers to buy European spirits, because of heavy import tariffs. Settsu Shenzu sent one of its employees, the young Masataka Taketsuru, abroad to study distillation techniques in Scotland (first in Glasgow, then in Strathspey and Campbeltown). The idea was that he would learn everything he could and then train his colleagues back home. Masataka came back to Japan in 1920, ready to share his knowledge; unfortunately for him, the post World War financial crisis forced the Settsu Shuzo company to abandon the whisky business entirely.

Frustrated, Masataka left the company in 1921. He was later approached by a man named Shinjiro Torii, the successful owner of the Kotobukiya Liquor Shop (formerly known as the "Torii Shoten" company) since 1899. Shinjiro used to specialize in Portuguese and Spanish wines before, but the Japanese wine enthusiasts were not ready for such products, considered to be too bitter for their taste. Mr. Torii sweetened his wines as a result. Now, he was ready for something new: he wanted to make a Scottish whisky adapted to the sensitive palates of his countrymen. That's why he chose to hire the former Settsu Shuzo employee and quickly promoted him to manager of his upcoming distillery. The facility, built near the small town of Yamazaki (Hyougo prefecture, in the Japanese Kansai), opened its doors in 1924.

Production started in November of that same year. Shinjiro would soon realize that local spirits afficionados were not thrilled by the smoky aftertaste of the two partners' Japanese whisky. They were not selling enough. Even their new flagship product, the Suntory Whisky Shirofuda released in 1929, was met with apathy. Although it did give its current name to the company: "Sun", as a reference to the sweet Akadama Port Wine Shinjiro used to sell when he was younger, which had a red sun printed on its label; and "Torii" for his own family name. After too many failures, Shinjiro and Masataka's business relationship turned sour. In 1934, Mr. Taketsuru left the company to become independent. He later created his own company, called "Dai Nippon Kaju Co. Ltd.", which was later shortened to simply "Nikka".

Shinjiro remained at the helm of Suntory and kept fighting. In 1947, he finally perfected his whisky recipe when he released his new cuvée, called "Kakubin" (a word which literally means "square bottle" in English). The 1930's were a golden age for the Japanese company. That's when everything started to click: Suntory later diversified its portfolio and entered the beer market in 1960, then the tea business twenty years later, and even tried its hand at making coffee during the 1990's (with the famous canned coffee brand "Boss"). Today, Suntory has transformed into Suntory Holdings, a superpower that can easily rival the mighty Coca-Cola group, with more than 11 billion euros of capital, 128 subsidiary companies all over the world and 20,000 full-time employees. Suntory also distributes many other beverage brands, thanks to partnerships or acquisitions, such as Pepsi, Lipton, Laurent Perrier, Carlsberg, Glenfiddich, Grand Marnier, Château Lagrange, Bowmore, Laphroaig...

Check out Suntory's Japanese whisky.