Many whisky aficionados have visited whisky distilleries in the hopes of catching a glimpse of what goes on behind the drams, but few have actually been able to partake in the hands-on experience of distilling whisky themselves. 

Shizuoka Distillery wants to change that. 

The Japanese whisky distillery recently launched the Shizuoka Whisky School, which offers students an opportunity to learn about whisky making and try their hand at distilling their own new make.

The Shizuoka Whisky School is kicking off with a two-day beginners' course that is remarkably comprehensive, covering a range of processes including the grinding of malt, the spitting of firewood to distill new make in a wood-fired still (affectionally dubbed Shizuoka's "W"), and even the cleaning of mash tuns.

The program is as follows:

Day 1 (14th July, 1:30pm - 5pm):

• Whisky History Course: A short course on the history of whisky and how it is made.
• Malt grinding: Participants try their hand at grinding malt, sifting the grounded malt, and learn about grinding ratios. 
• Saccharification & Fermentation: Participants extract wort from the grinded malt and add yeast to kickstart the process of fermentation. Participants will get to sample the wort through various stages of the process. 
• Wood-Fired Distillation: Participants split the firewood which is then thrown into the furnace under Shizuoka's wood-fire still, before observing the distillation of the whisky. 
• Tasting: Participants get to taste and compare new make and seven unblended whisky components. They learn about the process of whisky blending and how it impacts the final flavour. 

• Checking on the Fermentation and Cleaning the Fermentation Tank: Participants check on the status of fermentation, and will physically enter into Shizuoka's wooden mash tuns to hand wash it.
• Learn to make cuts by opening the spirit safe: Through a demonstration of the spirit safe, participants learn how to make middle cuts, and identify the different aromas of the heads, hearts and tails. 
• Transferring new make into casks and bottling new make: Some of the new make distilled the day before will be placed into casks for maturation, while the remainder will be bottled by the participants to be taken home.
• Graduation: Each participant will receive a certification of completion.
• Celebratory lunch

The fee for the course is 34,960 yen (USD $250) per student. Students will need to arrange for accommodation and transporation to and from the distillery separately. As part of the fee, students will receive their own Shizuoka Distillery polo shirt, a 200ml sample of new make and a certificate of completion. 

The course will only be held in Japanese, with only six spots available for the upcoming session. Given the limited capacity, those would are interested to attend will need to apply for the lottery via this Google Form, which will be open until June 16th, 11:59pm. The winners of the lottery will be contacted on June 19th. 

If you miss out on this July's session, fret not. Shizuoka Distillery plans to hold these courses on a regular basis, with the next one slated for October 2023. 

@lotusroot518