Yoichi

Built-in 1934 by Masataka Takesuru, Yoichi is located in the very remote region of Hokkaido. This location actually means that the distillery is closer to Russia than it is to the city of Tokyo. One of the most interesting facts about Yoichi is that they still use coal to heat the stills. This is something that was abandoned in Scotland many years ago.

Back in 1934, the distillery consisted of only a single still but today it has grown to six.  It can produce a modest 2,000,000 litres of spirit a year which can be a mixture of peated and unpeated. However, for a distillery that produces that amount of liquid, you really can only find a single NAS bottling in its portfolio.  All Yoichi bottling’s which carried age statements were halted in 2015. 

You can visit the Yoichi Distillery but be warned, it must be the most difficult of all the Japanese distilleries to get to.