Japan: Struggling sake breweries venture into whisky production

Sake breweries across Japan are venturing into whisky production, a move one industry expert described as their “last trump card” for survival, Asahi.com reported on April 15.

Consumption of rice wine continues to decline, while Japanese whisky has grown in popularity, especially among foreigners.

Hopes are also high that the shift to whisky will help revitalize regional communities.

Funasaka Sake Brewery, based in Takayama, Gifu Prefecture, in spring last year opened its whisky-producing Hida Takayama Distillery on the former site of Takane Elementary School, which closed in 2007.

Two pot stills for batch distillation of spirits are installed on the stage in the former gymnasium. Some of the whisky barrels are stored in what used to be the principal’s office.

The brewery’s production goal is around 40,000 liters of whisky in its initial fiscal year. The spirit is expected to hit the market in 2026 at the earliest because the maturation process takes at least three years.

The undertaking has enlivened the community.

The beloved elementary school is now a local heirloom under the new role of a whisky distillery.

Nissin Furniture Crafters Co. in Takayama has produced the Hida Barrel, an oak cask for whisky maturation now used by Hida Takayama Distillery.

It is made with a wood-bending technique used in famed furniture manufactured in Hida, northern Gifu Prefecture, and draws on the skills and expertise of Hida craftspeople.

The distillery is located in what used to be called Takane village, which disappeared when it merged into Takayama in 2005. The district’s population was 660 that year, but it plunged to only 275 in 2023.

There are hopes the distillery can revitalize the aging and remote community while promoting exchanges with people and businesses outside the district.

Kanda Machi Okoshi Co., a Gifu-based community development company under the umbrella of the Juroku Financial Group, has teamed up with Nagoya-based JR Tokai Bus Co. to operate the first one-day bus tours from Nagoya to Takane.

The tours, which include visits to the distillery, the oak cask making site and Takayama’s old townscape, are aimed at whisky lovers.

Participants can also deepen their knowledge during a whisky seminar given by instructor Nana Inoue in the bus.

“We have planned these attractive, fan-oriented tours for whisky enthusiasts,” said an official of the bus operator. “We hope to continue backing whisky production that has begun in this depopulated community.”

Funasaka is another sake brewer that is turning into a “two-way” producer of Japanese rice wine and whisky for survival.

Sake consumption has dwindled, while shochu-based highballs have grown in popularity among young people and demand from foreigners has risen for Japanese whisky, officials said.

Kiyosuzakura Brewery Corp., based in Kiyosu, Aichi Prefecture, is known for its Kiyosu-jo Nobunaga Onikoroshi sake. It began producing Aichi Craft Whisky Kiyosu in 2014.

The whisky, made with sake yeast and stored in a cellar for five years, was put on sale exclusively in the Tokai region in 2019.

A faint and sweet aroma, reminiscent of vanilla, wafts from a glass of Aichi Craft Whisky Kiyosu. It tastes powerful and heavy when held in the mouth.

The brewery, founded in 1853, started whisky production some 15 years ago.

One advantage it had was the availability of a shochu distillation facility, which meant the brewery did not have to invest heavily in new equipment.

Sake breweries face a big gap between the high season of winter and the slack season of summer.

Many breweries continue to brew sake in winter and produce whisky in summer.

Other factors behind their entry into whisky production include having the discretion to choose the ingredients, alcoholic strengths and other particulars. Some are attracted to the ways to adjust taste and scent through the aging process, officials said.

Iseman Co., a producer of sake and shochu based in Ise, Mie Prefecture, is now experimenting in whisky.

A number of things are required to earn the label “Japanese whisky,” including the use of malted grains and aging in Japan for at least three years.

Iseman gave up on an earlier attempt after failing to obtain a whisky brewing license when it renamed itself 40 years ago.

The brewery finally obtained the license three years ago and released a craft whisky product that blended a grain spirit of overseas origin with a malt whisky that Iseman distilled on its own.

Iseman has since kept its malt whisky in wooden casks for maturation, and it will hopefully be commercialized in summer this year.

“That has been one of our founding goals,” said an Iseman executive in charge of the project. “We hope to be able to put the product confidently on the market.”

Other sake breweries that have turned to whisky production in recent years include: Hakkaisan Brewery Co. of Niigata Prefecture; Miyakehonten Co. of Hiroshima Prefecture; Sudohonke Co. of Chiba Prefecture; Tatenokawa Inc. of Yamagata Prefecture; Ide Jozoten of Yamanashi Prefecture; and Nishibori Shuzo Co. of Tochigi Prefecture.

Hakkaisan Brewery is known for its Hakkaisan sake product, whereas Miyakehonten is famed for its Sempuku brand.

National Tax Agency figures show that sake consumption in Japan dropped 30 percent from 589,008 kiloliters in fiscal 2011 to 416,949 kiloliters in fiscal 2020.

Whisky consumption has been brisk, at 170,092 kiloliters in fiscal 2020, 1.8 times the figure for fiscal 2011.

Mamoru Tsuchiya, head of the Tokyo-based Japan Whisky Research Center, said there are 114 whisky distilleries across Japan, including those in the planning stage, and the number is growing.

“Sake breweries, which are struggling, are seeing whisky making as the last trump card for their survival,” he said. “That presents high hurdles, including a need to acquire distillation technologies, but it also comes with advantages, such as the way it allows sake breweries to be making whisky during their slack season.”

Tsuchiya continued: “I think more sake and shochu makers will continue to join the market in the years to come.”

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