The Miyagikyo Distillery

Completed in 1967, the Miyagikyo distillery is Nikka Whisky’s second distillery and is located near the city of Sendia in the Tohuku region. Travelling in the area one day, Masataka came upon a site completely enclosed by mountains and sandwiched between two rivers and immediately knew that it was perfect for a whisky distillery. Miyagikyo has an ideal climate for whisky maturation with pure air, high humidity and abundant underground water filtered through a layer of peat. It bears a striking resemblance to the Cairngorms region of Scotland and many joke that only the cherry trees are a reminder that the distillery is in fact thousands of miles from the highlands. The distillery was firstly named as Sendai, then changed to Sakunami before being changed to Miyagikyo in 2001.

Miyagikyo is unique in that it produces both single malt and grain whisky, and is equipped with eight pot stills to produce the former ,and two sets of Coffey stills for the latter. Miyagikyo’s pot stills have fatter bases, longer necks, smaller condensers and are steam heated, helping to produce the soft mild malts that it has become famous for. The Miyagikyo 12 Years Old bottling offers a fuller bodied and even more complex expression than the NAS and the 10 Years Old, while remaining true to the elegant character of this distillery’s malts, revealing spicy and floral notes behind a remarkable purity of fruit.

In 1922, Masataka left Settsu Shuzo Company after their plan to make Scotch was abandoned and joined Suntory on a 10 year contract to establish the Yamazaki distillery. However, he always knew that to make whisky the way he wanted to, he would have to become independent, and in 1934 he left Suntory to establish Nikka Whisky and built the Yoichi Distillery. The first Nikka Whisky was released 6 years later in 1940. Masataka Taketsuru would spend the rest of his life dedicated to honouring the development of whisky in Japan becoming known forever more as ‘the father of Japanese whisky’.