The name “Yamazaki” comes from the land of Yamazaki where the distillery is located, an area that has a warm and humid environment well-suited to whisky making. Located at the foot of Mt. Tennozan in southwestern Kyoto, Yamazaki had long thrived as a transportation center linking Kyoto with Osaka. It was also the site of the “Battle of Yamazaki,” where Hideyoshi
Hashiba, one of Japan’s most famous lords in the Warring States period, fought for supremacy with Mitsuhide Akechi.
Yamazaki is the point at which the Katsura, Uji, and Kizu rivers meet. Surrounded by mountains, it is often shrouded in dense mist. This moist natural environment provides the ideal conditions for cask storage, and helps the whisky sleeping in wooden casks to mature gradually.
Searching for this kind of utopia for whisky making, Shinjiro Torii traveled all around Japan. While imitating the manufacturing process of Scotch whisky, he was intent on finding a typically Japanese environment in order to make the best use of the characteristics of Japan and establish Japanese whisky.
Today the Yamazaki distillery’s whisky library showcases some 7,000 samples of malt whisky.Show more