Miyashita Shuzo Distillery

Though Miyashita Shuzo distillery has been operating in the Okayama Prefecture in one form or another for over a century, it has only been in the last ten years that they have begun turning their hands towards whisky production.

It was originally founded in 1915 as a Sake brewery in the city of Okayama, in the Prefecture of the same name. The journey towards making whisky began in 1983 when the brewery also started making shochu, a Japanese spirit typically distilled from rice or barley. In 1994 they also became a big local producer of ‘Doppo’ beer. It was a desire to experiment which led Okayama further down the path towards malt whisky. In 2003 someone decided to see what would happen if they distilled some of their beer in the shochu still, and the resultant spirit was stored in American Oak casks.

If this sounds like a strange idea to you, then don’t worry, you’re not alone. By their own admission this beer spirit never really caught on, so they decided to use these skills to make malt whisky instead. In 2011 the distillery was granted a licence to make whisky and began production of their double distilled spirit.

Okayama is a barley producing region, so the distillery tries to source as much locally as possible, though some is also imported from Germany. Water for the distillery comes from the underground Asahigawa stream, pumped up from a depth of 100m. The first few years’ distilling was done in their existing stainless steel shochu still. But in 2015 a new copper hybrid still was installed to achieve a better relationship between the spirit vapours and the still’s metal. Sitting on the extreme lower end of the scale of distilleries’ production capacity, Okayama turns out just 7,000 litres of spirits a year.

The Okayama Single Malt is a rare find, with only extremely small quantities ever being released. It was first released in 2015 to celebrate the distillery’s 100th anniversary after aging for three years in Brandy barrels. This is a floral and spicy whisky. It starts with aromas of citrus and some equally zesty spice, getting sweeter on the palate, but with a touch of pepper as well. The finish contains a light oak spice.