Distillery Spotlight: Kirin's Fuji Gotemba Distillery 

Region: Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan

Note: Our Distillery Spotlight articles discuss how each distillery's unique process results in the distinctive flavour profiles of their whisky. To find out more about each step of the whisky-making process, check out our Basics Series article on how to distil the elixir of life. 

Tatsuro Yamashita’s “Ride on Time” is an iconic City Pop anthem that defined a generation. Seriously, just listen to it. You can't help but be swept up in the buoyant energy and exuberance that defined Japan’s 1970s and 80s. The energy and excitement are testament to the neon light optimism of the era, a time when you could imagine City Pop melodies echoing through the bustling streets of Tokyo while the nation underwent a period of extraordinary social and economic transformation.

Mirroring this rise was the ascent of Japanese whisky, a spirit that seeks to capture the hearts, palates and Yen-filled wallets of a population hungry to experience sophistication and luxury.

The rise of City Pop and the Japanese whisky boom of the 1970s and early 80s occurred in tandem with the period known as "the Japanese Economic Miracle" when the nation’s rapid economic growth increased disposable incomes and expanded the middle and upper classes. The aspirational allure of whisky as a symbol of sophistication and culture proved irresistible, and the demand for drinks exploded. The annual consumption of whisky surged to 3 litres per capita by 1983.

During this period time, Japanese distillers seized the opportunity to cater to this growing demand, increasing their production of single malts to blended and grain varieties. Many saké and shochu producers even converted themselves to becoming whisky distilleries to meet the demand and ride the wave.

The beginnings of Fuji Gotemba Distillery

Fuji Gotemba Distillery was built in this era of optimism, when the Japanese market had an unquenchable thirst and salarymen were quaffing whisky. During this time, a powerful Canadian spirits conglomerate called Seagram Company Ltd turned to Japan and partnered with Kirin Brewery Company Ltd to form an equal joint venture Kirin-Seagram Ltd. In 1972, their distillery was built in Gotemba, a quiet, serene city in Shizuoka Prefecture that is less than 8 miles from the base of Mount Fuji.

Kirin-Seagram Ltd specially picked a location close to Mount Fuji for their new distillery. Apart from symbolism, the location is valued for its choice climate that makes it ideal for aging whiskey. The average temperate is 12°C while the misty environment provides high humidity of 85 percent. The location also grants access to fresh filtered water derived from Mount Fuji itself. Melted snow from the mountain passes through the porous volcanic bedrock and flows to the distillery’s wells – a process estimated to take about 50 years.

With the promise of a Japanese whisky boom in mind, investment was generously poured in to make Fuji Gotemba Distillery one of the most cutting-edge and versatile Japanese distilleries ever built. While other Japanese distilleries puritanically followed Scottish tradition and Scotch whisky equipment (copper pot stills or Aeneas Coffey continuous stills), Fuji took a slightly different direction due to the influence and expertise from Canadians and Americans at Seagram.

At Fuji, there are of course the traditional Scottish pot stills where barley malt spirit is concerned. However, Fuji is also able to produce 3 distinct styles of grain spirit using corn and sometimes rye.

• A light bodied Scottish style grain spirit is produced with Multi-column stills similar to Coffey stills.
• A medium bodied Canadian style whiskey is produced using the Canadian-style Kettle stills.
• A heavy bodied Bourbon style whiskey is produced using American-style Double stills.

Seagram Company Ltd would not live to see the biggest successes of Fuji Gotemba on the world stage. The once-powerful conglomerate (it owned numerous distilleries around the world and even Universal Studios and its theme parks), slowly met its end in the early 2000s due to a series of strategic mishaps. Yet thanks to Seagram’s influence, Fuji Gotemba is the only distillery outside North America possessing Canadian whiskey Kettle stills and US bourbon Doubler stills. Seagram’s fingerprints remain a small but remarkable legacy for the Canadian giant in the whiskey produced by Fuji Gotemba today.

With such a complex operation, Fuji manages its production out of a control panel with a dozen knobs and LED lights that might remind one of the lab of a mad scientist. This might look dated to modern eyes. However, in the 1970s, all of this was considered incredibly cutting edge, says the distillery’s Master Blender Jota Tanaka.

The Japanese whisky party of the 70s and 80s would not last long and the curtain began to close on the era of the Japanese Economic Miracle. Just as the optimistic City Pop soundtracks were now seen by the youth as a relic of a bygone era, Japanese whisky found its fortune waning. Whisky consumption began falling in the late 1980s, just as Japan's economic bubble was about to burst. Changing consumer preferences, a growing health consciousness, and increased competition from other alcoholic beverages, such as wine and shōchū, contributed to Japanese whisky's decline. In two decades, whisky consumption dropped to a mere 20% of its 1983 peak.

The lost decades of the late 1980s to early 1990s saw major Japanese brands desperately try to capture the youth market as whisky sales languished. Suntory for instance released the “Cobra Whisky” priced at less than US$10 and bottled at 39% ABV to skirt a tax surcharge imposed by law on 40% ABV beverages.

Admittedly, these comic arty labels were creative. Yet the Japanese youth of the 90s did not really take to them. It seemed that these attempts to “economize” whisky and make up for lost sales were not appreciated by the market and eventually written off the official canon of Japanese whisky history, as Stefan Van Eycken observed in Whisky Rising. It was a difficult couple of decades, particularly for companies focused on whisky. Fortunately for Kirin Ltd, which owned a more diversified portfolio of commercial beers, the company was less impacted by the fall of Japanese whisky in this period.

Pioneering a new style of Japanese Whiskey

A wave of optimism returned in the late 2000s, when international recognition and awards won by Japanese whiskies rekindled interest in the spirit. Around this time, one talented whiskey blender returned from a stint in Kentucky and began switching up things at Fuji Distillery.

Jota Tanaka’s career is an unusual mixture of Japanese, Californian and Kentuckian influences. Born in Kyoto, his career began with Californian wines as Kirin sent Tanaka to the States in 1989 to work as a winemaker at Napa Valley’s Raymond Vineyard, before returning to Japan to work in wines. When Kirin acquired Four Roses Bourbon in 2002, Tanaka was once again sent to out to Kentucky’s Four Roses Distillery. At Four Roses, Tanaka apprenticed with legendary American master distiller and blender Jim Rutledge – credited for wholly transforming the Four Roses brand into a prestigious bourbon.

After Tanaka’s 7-year stint making bourbon in the Bluegrass State, he retuned to Japan in 2009 with a renewed mission: To take Fuji Whiskey to an international audience. Tanaka was appointed Chief Blender by Kirin in 2010, where he helped to develop Kirin’s line of whiskies. While Scotch whisky traditions were still followed by all other Japanese whisky-makers Tanaka helped to perfect Fuji Gotemba’s unique spirit with distinctive flavours not seen elsewhere in Japan.

Tanaka himself pointed out that other Japanese whiskies similar in production methods and flavour to Scotch (especially if you consider the stories of how Yamazaki and Nikka began). Fuji whiskey doesn’t sing the same Scottish tune, but has notes seen in bourbon and Canadian grain whiskies – both of which learnt from Fuji Gotemba’s connection to Seagram. After all, Fuji Gotemba is the only distillery with Scottish, Canadian and American stills.

Fuji’s unique capability also makes it one of the few distilleries in Japan capable of producing “single blended” whiskey. The term refers to bottles of whisky made from both malt and grain spirit, and produced on the same distillery site. Unlike blended whiskies (like Johnnie Walker or Chivas), Fuji’s single blended whiskies are made with a sense of place and high level of control from the master blenders.

Check out Our Masterclass Experience with Master Blender Jota Tanaka to learn more about the unique production of Fuji Whiskey.

Notable Expressions from Fuji Gotemba Distillery

Fuji Gotemba Distillery bottles three main styles of whiskies: Single Malt, Single Grain and Single Blended.

It is worth noting that many other players in the Japanese and Scotch market are also capable of producing grain whiskey. However, Fuji’s strong reputation in grain whiskey and single blends doesn’t simply come from the fancy equipment it owns. The distillery and team has honed a competitive advantage in the grain whiskey and single blends categories from decades of blending such whiskies for the domestic market. It is only more recently that Kirin decided to raise the curtain and release its whiskies to an international audience.

Conventional wisdom says that grain whiskies are always light, approachable and neutral flavoured. Blenders historically relied upon malt whisky to provide more flavour. At Fuji, conventional wisdom is reversed: its malt whisky (produced by the Scottish pot still) is the light and delicate component. Its grain whiskies (produced by the Kettle and Doubler stills) provide more weight and flavour.

The result is a line of grain whiskies and single blends that are rich and round with toasty oak notes – often described as a cross between a typical Japanese whisky with American bourbon.

The recent global rollout and expansion of product lines has brought to fore 6 notable expressions from Fuji available on the market. There seems to be a somewhat whimsical choosing of whether to spell whiskey with an “e” or not on the labels – the Single Grain expressions are referred to as "Whiskey", while the Single Blends and Single Malts are referred to as "Whisky". So don’t get confused by that!

There are 3 single grain whiskies:

1. Fuji Single Grain Whiskey (NAS)
2. Fuji Single Grain Whiskey 25 Year Old
3. Fuji Single Grain Whiskey 30 Year Old

There is one single malt whisky:

1. Fuji Single Malt Whisky 17 Year Old

There are 2 single blended whiskies:

1. Fuji Single Blended (NAS)
2. Fuji Single Blended 2022 Masterpiece (NAS)

You may have also encountered bottles labelled “Fuji Sanroku” (which translates to “at the foot of Mount Fuji”). These blended whiskies from Fuji have been a mainstay of Japan’s domestic whisky market since 2005. It was only with the recent global expansion that the brand name was rechristened to “Fuji” to better speak to an international market.

The distillery’s blenders work towards producing a distinctive style that is clean and estery, a smooth and approachable spirit with layers of fruit and floral notes, and plenty of toasted notes from ex-bourbon barrels procured from Four Roses Distillery. Master Blender Tanaka describes Fuji’s single blends as a more delicate, elegant and fruitier version of a bourbon.

Kirin’s own research has shown that the flavour profile of Fuji’s whiskies makes them well-suited for light and nuanced Japanese foods, likes of fresh sashimi and seafoods. But beyond the shores of Japan, Tanaka points to the tasty and accessible profile of his whiskies and urges people to pair them with a wide variety of international cuisines and different social occasions.

Read our comprehensive review of the key expressions from Fuji Gotemba Distillery

As the sun sets on the horizon, the optimistic and innovative spirit of Fuji Gotemba Distillery since the 1970s continues to shine like the warm glow cast on Mount Fuji. Through a faithful understanding of their craft and inspiration drawn from America, the distillery has carved a unique niche in the Japanese whisky landscape, making expressions that defy traditional boundaries.

As we raise a toast to the current Japanese whisky boom, we can be sure that Fuji Gotemba Distillery will inspire and delight whisky lovers across the globe. May Fuji have enough whiskies to go about!

@CharsiuCharlie