Overview: Yasato Distillery, established in 2020 by Kiuchi Sake Brewery Co., operates on a hilltop overlooking Mt. Tsukuba in Ishioka, Ibaraki Prefecture. The facility focuses on crafting whiskies using exclusively locally sourced ingredients, continuing a legacy that began with sake brewing in 1823.
The Full Story
The Yasato Distillery stands on a hilltop overlooking Mt. Tsukuba and is dedicated to crafting whiskies using locally sourced ingredients. In 1823, the village headman of Konosu in the county of Naka in Hitachi began brewing sake. About 170 years later, a 1994 revision to the Liquor Tax Law opened the door to beer production on a small scale, leading to more than 200 new breweries popping up nationwide and creating a craft beer boom.
A trailblazer of this boom was Hitachino Nest Beer, which went on sale in 1996 from Kiuchi Sake Brewery Co., the direct descendant of the brewery started by the Konosu headman, Gihei Kiuchi. In 2007, Kiuchi Sake Brewery collaborated with local farmers to revive a barley variety that had not been grown since around 1960, and started using it to brew beer. Nipponia, another craft beer brand the company produced using all-domestic ingredients — the malt, hops and Yamada-Nishiki sake rice — became popular not only in Japan but overseas as well.
In 2016, Kiuchi Sake Brewery began making whisky in a corner of their beer brewery. Kyoshiro Imaizumi of Yasato Distillery stated, “We started making whisky partly to use barley that didn’t meet the standard for brewing beer.” The distillery stands in a farming area in Ishioka, in the prefecture, close to Mt. Tsukuba. Since its establishment, the distillery has produced grain whiskies made from rice and wheat grown in the prefecture.
Production & Profile
Pot stills for whiskey built in Scotland have been installed in Kiuchi Sake Brewery’s Yasato Distillery in Ishioka, Ibaraki Prefecture. Normally, the lauter tun and the mash tun are combined into a single vessel, but the facility has separate tuns, each with its own temperature control, just as is done for making beer. This allows for an increase in the volume of yeast and produces a very aromatic wort.
Wort is added to yeast and left for three days inside a stainless fermentation vessel. The wort is then moved to a wooden fermentation vessel for another two days to produce a fermentation broth rich in bacteria that turn sugars into lactic acid. This broth is transferred to pot stills for distillation. A storage house adjacent to the factory contains barrels for bourbon and sherry, in addition to original barrels made from cherry trees that epitomize the company’s determination to make the entire process as Japanese as possible.
Currently they have about 5,000 barrels full of liquors and other alcoholic drinks, maturing in accordance with the local climate and without temperature and humidity controls. The taste takes time to complete, so it is difficult but also interesting, according to Imaizumi.
Brand & Industry History
The company has harnessed the knowledge and techniques honed through its beer brewing business for making whisky as well. In 1823, the village headman of Konosu in the county of Naka in Hitachi began brewing sake. About 170 years later, a 1994 revision to the Liquor Tax Law opened the door to beer production on a small scale. This led to more than 200 new breweries popping up nationwide and created a craft beer boom.
A trailblazer of this boom was Hitachino Nest Beer, which went on sale in 1996 from Kiuchi Sake Brewery Co., the direct descendant of the brewery started by the Konosu headman, Gihei Kiuchi. In 2007, Kiuchi Sake Brewery collaborated with local farmers to revive a barley variety that had not been grown since around 1960, and started using it to brew beer.
What This Means
The company’s commitment extends beyond production methods to the philosophy of agricultural tradition and culture. Kyoshiro Imaizumi stated, “Making sake should go hand in hand with agricultural tradition and culture.” The distillery sticks to using barley and rice grown in Ibaraki Prefecture not only for their beer but also for their whiskies. This dedication ensures that the production remains rooted in the specific geography of Ishioka, utilizing the region’s status as one of eastern Japan’s richest grain-growing regions.
Consumer Takeaway
Four years ago, the company rolled out the first edition of a whisky named Hinomaru — literally “the circle of the sun,” which features on Japan’s national flag and embodies the company’s commitment to and pride in using domestic ingredients. Since then, the company has produced limited editions of the whisky each year, including three standard choices: Signature 1823, Kome and Sakura Ra. Signature 1823 is the brand’s hallmark single malt whisky and won top prizes at several competitions last year. Kome is a blended whisky with a mild sweetness and solid body, and Sakura Ra is matured in various barrels, such as cherry wood and cherry brandy barrels, and characterized by a sweet, vibrant fragrance.
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