Some Of The Best Whiskey In The World Is Made In Japan

The tiny distillery making Japan into a whisky superpower

Ichiro Akuto’s passion for making single malts that are ‘not necessarily easy to drink’ is winning global praise

Today, despite working out of modest premises with just two tiny pot stills in the hills of Chichibu, a town 100 km northwest of Tokyo, Akuto’s single malts are winning rave reviews from the global whisky cognoscenti.
Many are willing to pay hundreds of dollars - and in a few cases much more - for a bottle of single malt from what is Japan’s smallest distillery.
The Whisky Magazine, a British publication, has consistently given awards to Akuto’s firm, Venture Whisky, and its range of “Ichiro’s” single malts now rival those from the bigger and more established Japanese distillers Suntory and Nikka.
This year, Akuto won first prize in the Japanese single malt single class category at the World Whiskies Awards.
He launched Venture Whisky in 2008 and produced his first label – Ichiro’s Vintage Single Malt 1988 – the following year. Much of the rest of the inherited stock went into Venture’s award-winning “card” series, with each small batch labelled with the name of a playing card.

Some might schoff at the idea of the Japanese making award winning spirits, but take step back for a moment ask yourself this question: When the Japanese look at product like whiskey they don't consider how to keep it the same by following tradition. They ask how can that tradition be improved. That's how Akuto has looked at his distilleries methods of production.

If you get the chance to visit Venture Whiskey it's located in Saitama and can be reached by taking the Seibu-Ikebukuro  line train from Ikebukuro to Chichibu. The limited express train takes about 87 minutes and costs ¥1,480 one way.  The fare includes a seat fee.