Komoro distillery launches
The turbulent fortunes of the distilling industry have meant that over the years many valuable distilleries have had to close for economic reasons. Sometimes some of them come back to life. While in Scotland we have been enjoying the recent reactivation of the Brora distillery and waiting for whisky to flow again from the alembics at Port Ellen and Rosebank, in Japan we have been waiting for the relaunch of the distillery that is the heir to the legendary Karuizawa. We waited until yesterday.
The long-awaited production of whisky at the newly built Komoro distillery has just begun, Karuizawa Distillers has announced.
Komoro is a thoroughly modern plant, built from scratch on the slopes of the Asama volcano in Nagano Prefecture, barely about 10 km from where the now legendary Karuizawa once operated. Komoro aims to preserve the heritage of that distillery. Embodying the vision of married couple Koji and Yoshie Shimaoka, the distillery was designed in collaboration with Drs. Jim Swan, co-author of the successful m.in. taiwan's Kavalan. The copper alembics working in it were made by the Scottish company Forsyths. The whiskey production process has been prepared in such a way as to minimize its impact on the environment.
Master buyer of new distillery, Ian Chang, announces production of Japan's finest single malt whisky. It will be matured in bourbon and sherry barrels, but also in Japanese Mizunara oak barrels and STR barrels, first introduced by Jim Swan and Ian Chang himself. STR is an abbreviation for "shaved, toasted and recharred," which means that we are talking about barrels that have been used before, but have undergone a kind of rejuvenation process, which involves removing the worn layer of wood, roasting it again from the inside and firing it again. This technique has proved extremely helpful in the face of shortages of high-quality barrels on the market, and has also proved effective in maturing high-quality whiskeys.
In addition to production facilities, the Komoro distillery has a store and bar, as well as rooms for tastings and masterclasses. Its doors will be opened to the residents of Komoro town for the first time on Saturday, July 1 this year. Outside guests will be able to enjoy its hospitality from July 23.
Distillery opening coincides with centennial of whisky production in Japan. It was in 1923 that the first industrial whiskey plant, Yamazaki, was opened, with Taketsuru Masataka as director. He spent some time in Scotland, first studying organic chemistry in Glasgow and later working with the Longmorn distillery in Speyside, and later at Hazelburn in Campbeltown. In 1920, he and his Scottish wife Rita returned to Japan. After working at Yamazaki for about ten years, due to a conflict with the distillery's owner , Torii Shinjirō, Taketsuru decided to leave the company and moved to the island of Hokkaido, where in 1934 he established his own distillery and distilling company. In time, he renamed it Nikka Uwisukī Kabushiki-gaisha, still known in our part of the world today as Nikka Whisky Distilling Company, now part of the Asahi Group. Nikka owns, among others, the Ben Nevis distillery in Scotland.
It will be at least a few years before the first whiskey from the Komoro distillery hits the market. However, it is still possible today to become the owner of one of the bottles filled at the original Karuizawa distillery, finally closed in 2000. At the time of preparing this material, the offerings were some extremely valuable editions of great collector's value.
[21.06.2023 / photo: Karuizawa Distillers]