Inside Komoro Distillery: Master Distiller Ian Chang’s 30-Year Plan To Create Japan’s Next Whisky Legacy Beneath Mount Asama & Why Karuizawa’s Spiritual Successor Is All About Transcendence, Not Imitation
(Source: Karuizawa Distillers Inc.)
Just eight months after Komoro Distillery’s stills ran for the first time, Ian Chang presented his spirit to a room full of experienced whisky makers from around the world at the 2024 World Whisky Forum. One was a colourless new make spirit, direct from the still. The other had spent four months in oak. Neither was a finished Komoro single malt whisky.
Previous editions of the World Whisky Forum typically were held in established whisky regions. Yet the 2024 Forum saw eminent distillers and blenders head down to this new distillery on the slopes of Mount Asama of the Greater Karuizawa region, where the team hosted an entire industry before it had a mature whisky to show. Among the visitors was Suntory’s respected fifth-generation Chief Blender, Shinji Fukuyo, who praised the new make spirit for its quality and “compactness”.
At that point of time, Komoro Distillery’s first single malt release – recently announced for 7 November 2026 - was still more than two and a half years away. And while a date that far in the future would normally leave a new producer with little more than vague promises, the whisky industry is already incredibly familiar with the story behind Komoro’s location and distilling team.
Hundreds of industry delegates excitedly visited Komoro during the World Whisky Forum 2024 (Source: Komoro Distillery)
A big part of the interest behind Komoro Distillery is the mantle that whisky lovers expect it to put on -even when Ian does not expressly claim it. Just like the legendary Karuizawa Distillery that ceased distilling in 2000, the distillery sits on the foothills of Mount Asama, uses the same mineral-rich ground water, and - since the closure of Karuizawa Distillery - is hailed by many to be the first serious operation to restore whisky production to the Greater Karuizawa region.
The ghost distillery that disappeared from Mount Asama
Karuizawa is the modern face of high-end Japanese whisky collecting. Among Japan’s “lost” distilleries - the mothballed and demolished ones that now only exist in old photos – Karuizawa Distillery’s single malts are indisputably the cult favourite, the one that collectors chase relentlessly and the rest of us daydream about.
The name “Karuizawa” first belonged to a place. It is an idyllic mountain town set within the foothills of Mount Asama, that since the late 1800s, has been a summer retreat of forests and cool air that drew city people out of Tokyo’s humidity.
Now considered highly sought after, Karuizawa Distillery had been mothballed in the face of poor demand. (Image Source: FRW UK)
The original Karuizawa Distillery was built in 1955 in Miyota Town that just borders Karuizawa Town. As the distillery was simply intended by its owner to supply malt for Ocean Blended Whisky, Karuizawa Distillery’s single malts appeared only intermittently. Production stopped in 2000 and the distillery buildings were demolished.
Yet thanks to the work of independent bottling companies including Sukhinder Singh’s Elixir Distillers who recognized the singular character of Karuizawa’s spirit, the distillery’s surviving stock of whisky was bottled and released as batches of single malt whisky to the public, a little at a time after the place that made it had gone. The whisky industry began to take notice of the distillate’s heavier weight and concentration, often deepened by long-term maturation in sherry casks. Around the world, the reputation of Karuizawa Distillery’s single malt continued to grow in the shadow of its own disappearance within conversations of whisky collectors and auction houses.
None of this is remote history to Koji Shimaoka, the co-founder of Komoro Distillery which is located in Komoro Town just a 10-minute drive from the original Karuizawa Distillery. The former Citibank executive had lived in the area and saw the rice and fall of Karuizawa Distillery himself. He wondered, if Mount Asama had once produced a Japanese single malt of global standing, why should whisky-making in the region end with it?
(Source: Komoro Distillery)
Komoro Distillery’s official mission is to carry on the legacy of Greater Karuizawa as a world-class whisky-making region. Even as they respect the legacy left by the original Karuizawa Distillery, Komoro’s founders have stated expressly that they do not set out to simply to replicate or imitate the style of the legendary ghost distillery. It was a deliberate decision not to simply name the new distillery “Karuizawa Distillery”, even if there were no legal restrictions against usage of a geography-based name. Komoro developed its unique stills, casks and production methods rather than sought to replicate those of the original Karuizawa’s.
Afterall, most whisky experts believe that it is impossible to exactly replicate the style of a specific distillery from a generation ago. At the same time, the team is confident of its ability to create something original and exciting reflecting the terroir of the region, with quality that could stand on its own. “As Jim Swan always said, and Shimaoka-san agrees, what’s the point of making a copycat when you can create a real thing?” said Komoro’s co-founder and Master Distiller Ian Chang in an interview with Scotland’s The Sunday Post.
Sukhinder Singh's Karuizawa bottlings are the face of modern high-end Japanese whisky collecting.
Leaving the Taiwanese subtropics for Nagano’s winters
Another big reason for interest in Komoro is the man who would be charged with leading it.
Dr Jim Swan working beside Ian (Source: Ian Chang)
Ian Chang is no stranger to the Scotch and Japanese whisky industries despite being neither nationality. He started his whisky-making career as a junior researcher at Taiwan’s Kavalan Distillery at its inception in 2005, and became promoted to Master Blender within less than a year. It was under the leadership of respected Scottish whisky consultant Dr Jim Swan and later, Ian himself, that Kavalan received one of the quickest stories of international breakthroughs for both distillery and region. In 2010, just 2 years after its first product was launched, Kavalan received global news coverage when its whiskies were scored higher than several top Scotch whiskies in a blind tasting event in Scotland. Then in 2015, the distillery’s Kavalan Solist Vinho Barrique was named the World’s Best Single Malt Whisky – cementing not only Kavalan’s name, but Taiwan, as a respected whisky producing region.
Yilan, Taiwan, where Kavalan Distillery is located, sees a warm, humid subtropical climate which Ian had to work with (Source: Kaitlyn Tsai)
Many regard the architects behind Kavalan’s success to be Ian himself, and Dr Swan, whom Ian fondly calls his personal “Mr Miyagi” (a father and mentor figure in the iconic Karate Kid films). When Ian first joined Kavalan, the assignment was to build an entire whisky brand from ground-up. There was no inherited house style to guard and no long inventory of mature casks to lean upon. There was also no precedent for how a whisky would mature and develop in Taiwan’s subtropical climate. Every thing had to be learned at speed.
Then, in 2017, great recognition arrived with loss. Dr Swan suddenly passed away in February, leaving a void. That same year, Kavalan was named Distiller of the Year by the International Wine & Spirit Competition (IWSC).
Ian often spoke fondly of his mentor from whom he received not just a whiskymaking recipe, but an entire philosophy of how to make whisky, no matter the environment. Before Kavalan, Dr Swan’s storied career took him across many distilleries in Scotland and India. Working across blending and research and development, and drawing on Dr Swan’s experiences, Ian learnt how whisky was made in both hot and cold climates, how to taste a spirit and read its flavour to discern what was happening during fermentation, distillation and maturation, how to understand different oak species and cask types to implement a wood policy, and the importance of creating a new make that was already aromatic and delicious before maturation – what Swan described as “a drinkable perfume”.
By 2020, Kavalan had nearly become a household name. Ian had helped the distillery collect more than 500 awards. At that time, Ian was working as the company’s Global Ambassador and frequently travelled. The pandemic broke the rhythm and international travel was halted. The quiet time gave Ian pause and the time to consider if he would like to work on a different project.
Soon after his departure from Kavalan in December 2020, a mutual friend introduced Ian to Shimaoka. One man had the experience of creating a whisky identity where none had existed; the other had spent years thinking about the disappearance of whisky from his own region. Their ambitions met exactly. Ian permanently relocated to Japan. Shimaoka took on the role of chairman and chief executive, while Eddie Ludlow of The Whisky Lounge – UK’s largest whisky events organiser – joined as chief educator and brand consultant.
“I always consider Kavalan to be my birth, and now is my rebirth,” said Ian of his new project at Komoro. Here, he would begin as a co-founder and stakeholder, but in the vastly different climate of the Karuizawa region where winter temperatures fall well below freezing.
The search through Karuizawa that ended in Komoro
Shimaoka tasked himself with searching for an ideal location to set up his new distillery. Over the course of five years, the team examined more than a dozen sites, but none offered the ideal conditions for whiskymaking.
Eventually, the team found a forested plot in Komoro Town in late 2020. The sloping wooded site of roughly 10,000 square metres stands above that town at about 910 metres and would make for one of Japan’s highest whisky distilleries.
(Source: Karuizawa Distillers Inc.)
While Kavalan operated in the subtropics, Komoro is much cooler. Winters can fall to between minus 10 and minus 15 degrees Celsius, while the warmest part of summer is short. The warmer months press for slightly stronger extraction, while the cold months will see very slow reaction.
Mineral-rich mountain water completed the case for the site. The distillery draws on the cold and plentiful Noma spring which rises on Mount Asama about 800 metres away. Ian describes it as hard, mineral-rich water that has taken about fifty years to filter through the mountain. This water is used to mash, ferment and cool the condensers. While typical single malt distilleries focus on soft water, Komoro’s a relatively uncommon case for using mineral-rich water. This water is used to mash, ferment and cool the condensers.
The snow-capped Mount Asama is an active volcano.
When Shimaoka showed Ian the water analysis and the records of temperature and humidity of Komoro, Ian immediately replied over video call: “I’m in!” At a joint press conference in Komoro City Hall in December 2020, the city welcomed what would become its first distillery.
Whisky making at Komoro
Ian describes his whiskymaking approach at Komoro through the Japanese Shu-Ha-Ri model (守破離). The Shu (守) “follow” aspect means to follow the form taught by a mentor. The Ha (破) “adapt” aspect allows a student to, after mastering the fundamentals, adapt the mentor’s principles and begin developing their own method. Finally, the Ri (離) “transcend” aspect refers to the student’s eventual creation of their own independent practice and methods. Ian places his work at Komoro in the “Ha” phase. Kavalan and Dr Swan have given him the foundation; while Nagano’s climate and terroir may require him to sensibly adapt the principles he has learnt.
Whiskymaking at Komoro begins with malt sourced from England and selected for higher levels of usable starch content. To create the esters required for a fruity spirit, Komoro uses a long fermentation of 72 hours in an array of 10 washbacks – 5 of which are stainless-stell vessels imported from Forsyths and 5 wooden Douglas-fir vessels built on site. The final 10 to 15 hours of the fermentation are given a lactic phase which introduces lactic bacteria, that help create complex, creamy and lightly acidic compounds.
(Source: Komoro Distillery)
In the stillroom, Komoro uses just two Forsyths copper pot stills: one wash still of about 5,000 litres, and one spirit still of about 7,000 litres. When distillation takes place, each batch of wash is first distilled in the wash still, before the resulting low wines are finally distilled in the spirit still. Both stills are steam-heated and use shell-and-tube condensers.
Komoro puts an unusual emphasis on the spirit still run. While most distilleries feature wash stills that are larger than spirit stills, Komoro inverts that rule. Two batches of low wines from the wash still are combined into a single, larger second distillation at the spirit still. Together with the heavily descending lyne arms (which allow heavier compounds to carry through more easily), Ian is able to shape the final new make into a full-bodied and weighty spirit.
(Source: Komoro Distillery)
Ian times the “heart cut” (the portion of the spirit run that is ultimately extracted as new make) not just with his sensory judgment, but with a range of laboratory instruments that track flavour compounds for consistency. But his target is always, as Dr Swan has described, “a drinkable perfume”.
While the malt is typically unpeated, each December, Komoro sets aside a limited production run for peated spirit, using malt peated to 25ppm –said to be a tribute to Dr Swan’s birthday of 25 December.
As alluded earlier, certain adjustments have to be made for Komoro’s location. At the high altitude of 910 metres, lower air pressure means the wash begins to boil a few degrees below the usual boiling point of 100 degrees Celcius. To accommodate this, Ian has noted that gentler distillation is required to shift the timing of the cuts.
After distillation comes maturation, and Ian echoes Dr Swan’s mantra that a cask contributes 60 to 70% of a whisky’s flavour. Komoro currently holds over 1,000 filled casks of more than twenty different types, sourced from different regions and selected to give a blender many different possible components.
A number of these casks are ‘STR’ casks – shaved, toasted and re-charred wine casks developed by Dr Swan and later closely associated with Ian’s work at Kavalan. These casks are praised for the ability to quickly mature a young spirit, thanks to its highly active insider surface which exposes fresh oak for a spirit to quickly draw out sweetness, spice and colour.
The wider cask library includes ex-Bourbon, Port and Sherry-seasoned wood, along with a fascinating growing Japanese wood vocabulary that includes Mizunara oak, Sakura Cherry and Japanese Chestnut. Mizunara is of course the rare and highly prized Japanese oak that introduces rich sandalwood and temple incense-like aromatics to Japanese whiskies.
(Source: Komoro Distillery)
Sakura Cherry and Chestnut are completely different species of wood altogether – Sakura Cherry casks tend to impart a distinct Sakura floral aroma with gentle spice and soft fruits like white peach, while Chestnut casks are much more porous than oak and tend to impart deeper colour, more tannins, and dried fruit. Komoro itself has described its Sakura Cherry cask newborn spirit to have a distinctive Sakura-scented note, while its Chestnut-matured spirit has a “gentle sweetness”. We should note that while Scotch whiskies are restricted to only using oak for maturation, Japanese whisky’s industry standard merely requires any wooden cask, giving distillers the freedom to experiment beyond oak and use other types of local wood species.
(Source: Komoro Distillery)
All these casks mature in two dome-shaped, larch-clad warehouses dedicated as the Jim Swan House. Casks sit both on racks and upright on pallets. These two warehouses are surrounded by forest, and built with air gaps so that the casks are not completely sealed from the outside air. They allow more of Komoro’s changing seasons to reach the maturing spirit.
In the nearby visitor’s section of the distillery, a kitchen works the spent barley grain into pizza dough.
The Komoro single malt’s 30-year-plan
Komoro will concentrate on only making single malt whisky. According to Ian, his ideal picture of Komoro single malt is a whisky that is fragrant, fruity and floral, with a firm structure and delicacy, and one that is evocative of Komoro’s terroir.
He has also said that an important aspect of Komoro’s whiskies will be its focus on blending harmony with different woods. The primary expressions would be multi-cask blended vattings bottled between 46% and 50% ABV. It was also indicated that there won’t be a focus on single-cask or cask-strength releases.
Komoro Distillery has taken advance orders for its three limited edition bottles: "Taiwan", "Tokyo" and "Komoro" at the World Whisky Forum 2024. These will only be delivered in 2027 (Source: Komoro Distillery)
In terms of age statements, Ian has described a ladder that begins with 3-year-old releases, then 5-year-old and 8-year-old releases. Once 12-year-old stock exists, said Ian, the 12 would become the youngest whisky in the range, followed in time by 16, 20, 25 and 30 years. Ian has calculated that he would be 78 by the time the 30-year-old is ready.
(Source: Komoro Distillery)
The house language is still taking shape as the inaugural Komoro ORIGIN Single Malt release is only slated for this November. However, whisky lovers have eagerly sampled the distillery’s newmake and pre-whisky (dubbed “newborn”), describing them to be very aromatic, with notes of peaches, strawberries, green apples, citrus and lychee, and toasted biscuits on the palate. It is also said to be balanced and drinkable, rather than exhibiting raw heat of an unaged spirit. While Ian’s ambition is to create a malt with an independent identity, he did note one similarity to the original Karuizawa’s spirit – both are weighty and apparently “quite sulphury”.
In a conversation between Ian and Chief Blender Fukuyo, the pair of experienced distillers mapped out a practical sequence to how Komoro’s signature style would take shape. The whiskymaker should first identify the qualities specific to Komoro and establish that in its standard expression first, before building other whiskies around it. Providing the first reference point would be the Komoro ORIGIN Single Malt, bottled at 48% ABV with an outturn of 4,000 bottles, which would go on sale at the distillery on 7 November 2026.
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