Yamazaki Distillery

Tori Shinjiro was the founder. Tori was already involved in the beverages business and wanted to launch the first single malt Japanese whisky.

To achieve that, he hired the legendary Masataka Taketsuru (who is considered to be the “father”of Japanese whisky) as the director of the distillery. Taketsuru traveled to Glascow to study chemistry and spend a lot of time on field to learn the secrets of Scotch distilling techniques.

Tori was also the founder of the Kotobukiya company which would later be renamed as “Suntory”.
10 years later, Taketsuru would leave the distillery but it would keep growing in reputation and is considered to be one of the leading whisky producers in Japan.

Within the distillery’s premises there is a Whisky Museum with a “Whisky Library” where several thousands of single malt expressions are displayed, and the “History of Japanese Whisky” exhibit.