The history of Japanese whisky isn’t all that long compared to say, the history of Scottish whisky. Nevertheless, the Japanese have managed to produce some of the best whiskies in the world, known throughout the world for their distinctive taste and high quality. They win award after award, putting competitors to shame. Famed for their mild texture and pleasant aroma, they rival the best whiskies Scotland can offer, and some say Japanese whisky makers even outdo the Scots! How did this nation manage to produce such high quality whisky?
Whisky drinking in Japan is as old as Japanese modernity itself. In 1853, when Commodore Matthew Perry sailed his big black ships to Edo harbor, forcing the reluctant samurai rulers to open Japan to trade, he brought with him a few barrels of whisky to keep himself and his crew warm on the long voyage across the Pacific. He also intended to demonstrate American prowess and ingenuity to the Japanese, and what better way to do this than to present the Emperor with the best of what America had to offer? One of the things he presented was a 110-gallon barrel of his finest whisky. There are no stories about what the Japanese court thought about this gift, but presumably they put this strange, amber-coloured, pure-looking beverage to good use.
Only two decades later, the Japanese began importing whisky, and local brewers also started making their own versions. This early “whisky” was actually just alcohol with a similar colour to whisky; it wasn’t very refined, to say the least. And the problem today has assumed huge proportions.
Mamoru Tsuchiya, one of Japan's leading whisky experts is worried about the future of his country’s whisky. Sales are booming, but there’s a problem: A large amount of the liquor isn’t actually made in Japan, he says.
Some of it isn’t whisky at
all. “There are a lot of situations where you call it Japanese whisky, but
they’re using imported Scotch or Canadian whisky,” he says. Global demand for
Japanese whisky has exploded over the last decade — bottles like the Yamazaki
18 Year Old, which once collected dust at $100, sell for five times the price
and are now almost impossible to find. The dollar value of exports to America
grew by nearly 50 percent in 2019 over the previous year, according to the
Distilled Spirits Council of the United States.
But unlike most whisky-producing
countries, Japan has few rules about what constitutes whisky, let alone what
makes it Japanese. Companies can buy spirits in bulk from abroad, bottle and
label it “Japanese whisky,” and ship it back out. They can export aged shochu
made from grains, like rice or barley, for sale in America as whisky. Some
so-called distilleries don’t even do any distilling; they import the whisky in
bulk and contract another company to bottle it.
It’s a regulatory Wild
West that both established distilleries and start-ups are taking advantage of
to feed growing global demand. It’s also a potential public-relations disaster:
The internet is already rife with articles claiming to pull back the curtain on
the myth of Japanese whisky. While many of the premier brands, like Yamazaki
and its 18 Year Old, point out that they are made exclusively in Japan, others
refuse to say. “It puts Japanese whisky’s reputation at risk,” says the founder
of Dekanta, an online retailer.
In September, Tsuchiya,
who runs an advocacy organisation called the Japan Whisky Research Centre,
proposed a set of rules for Japanese whisky, including a requirement that it be
distilled in Japan. The rules would be voluntary, but he planned to use the
2020 Tokyo Whisky and Spirits Competition, which he runs, as a carrot: Only
products that met his criteria could enter as “Japanese whisky.” He received
support from most of the distilling industry, as well as the Japan Spirits and
Liqueurs Makers Association, an industry-funded, government-chartered agency
that helps set nationwide regulations.
But because of the
coronavirus pandemic, the competition and Tsuchiya’s proposed rules are on
hold. While the industry and consumers wait to see what happens next, a new
debate is underway: What is Japanese whisky, anyway?
Japan’s laissez-faire
regulatory approach is rooted, at least in part, in its complicated history
with the West. Its first recorded encounter with whisky came in 1853, when Commodore Matthew Perry, during his
inaugural visit to Japan, gave his hosts 70 gallons of Scotch and American
whisky. It was a hit among the imperial court, and the gift became a defining
memory of a landmark cross-cultural encounter.
As part of its subsequent
push to emulate the West, Meiji-era Japan encouraged the production of domestic
versions of that same whisky. Japanese distillers often used sweet potatoes,
which were abundant, but they produced a much different spirit than the barley,
corn and rye used in Scotland and America.
From the get-go, Japanese
whisky was not whisky as the rest of the world understands it according to a
Tokyo-based whisky writer. No one gave much thought to defining it, he said,
since it was entirely for domestic consumption. The bragging rights that came
with having a homegrown whisky industry, and whatever tax revenue it generated,
were more important than the precision of the end product.
The first modern Japanese
whisky distilleries, including Yamazaki, didn’t open until the 1920s. While
they were modeled on Scottish operations and often produced high-quality
spirits, they did little to change the overall character of Japanese whisky,
which, especially following World War II, was aimed at everyday salary-men
looking for a quick drink after work.
The Japanese government
introduced formal definitions for domestic whisky in 1989, but by then the industry
was dominated by a few big distilling companies that wanted to keep the rules
loose. After 1989, for example, whisky sold domestically had to contain at
least 10 percent aged malt whisky; the rest could be unaged alcohol, typically
made from imported molasses.
Both domestically and internationally, interest in Japanese whisky began to pick up in the early
2000s, snowballing through the next 15 years as the industry’s premium brands,
like Hibiki and Yamazaki, racked up global critical acclaim. But distillers
didn’t have enough fully aged product to meet demand, leading many established
and start-up brands to start buying in bulk from overseas.
The Japanese whisky industry can be opaque, so it is hard to know which distilleries rely on foreign sources. Still, analysts point to fast-growing exports of Scotch and Canadian
whisky to Japan in recent years, even as the retail sales of those whiskies
remain flat — implying that most of the imported spirit is being bought by
distilleries and relabelled as Japanese.
One company that has been
open about its sources is Nikka, which makes whisky in Japan and owns the Ben
Nevis distillery in Scotland. Domestic supply shortages force the company to
use “a small amount of whisky from overseas” to meet demand. Imported Scotch is
a critical ingredient in creating Nikka’s flavour profile, in the same way that
an American baker might swear by French butter in making an apple pie.
Some distilleries are
coming clean by labelling their whiskies “world blends,” meaning a combination
of imported and domestic products. These include Ao, from Suntory, one of the
largest distilling companies in Japan, and Ichiro’s Malt & Grain World
Whisky, from Chichibu, a highly regarded craft producer.
Unlike in Scotland, they
do not exchange casks with other producers within the country. In order to
create a complex blended whisky to meet this demand, blenders in Japan needed
to look outside our country for whisky to realise their visions. Nevertheless,
as more American whisky fans learn that Japanese whisky isn’t 100 percent
Japanese, they’re increasingly unhappy. Much of the critical praise over the
past decade leaned on generalisations about Japanese craftsmanship and
ingredients, and drinkers are understandably angry to learn that the whisky in
their glass might not even be made in Japan.
Tsuchiya proposed that distilleries
use only grain in their mash, ferment it with yeast (shochu uses a different
process), distill it entirely in Japan, and then age it for at least two years
in a wood cask. The requirement of two years, instead of three like in
Scotland, is because Japan has a more temperate climate and whisky ages faster.
THE BREAKTHROUGH
The Japan Spirits &
Liqueurs Makers Association announced a new set of industry-wide regulations on
16 February 2021, effective 01 Apr 2021.
As explained in the article
supra, despite the first whisky distillery opening in Japan in 1923, laws and
regulations introduced only in the 1950s have remained largely unchanged since
then. With demand for Japanese Whisky soaring in recent years, several
producers have cut corners to meet those demands. It has long been known that a
number of labels source whisky from Scotland and Canada, age it in Japan, and
label it as Japanese Whisky.
The new regulations are
designed to create more certainty around Japanese Whisky and bring it in line
with the strict laws and regulations that other whisky-producing nations follow.
The Regulations
Although these regulations
are not binding, it is certainly a step in the right direction for the
industry. These “non-binding” regulations took effect from 1st April 2021. However,
whisky brands have until 31st March 2024 to adhere to them.
- The only raw ingredients
allowed for use in production are malted grains, other cereal grains, and water
extracted in Japan. Malted grains must always be used.
- Fermentation,
distillation, and saccharification must take place in a distillery located in
Japan, with the alcohol volume of the distillate not allowed to go above 95% in
strength.
- Wood casks with a maximum
capacity of 700 litres must be used for the maturation of the distilled product
and have to be matured in Japan for a minimum of 3 years.
- Bottling must take place
in Japan, and the whisky has to have a minimum ABV of 40%.
- Plain caramel colouring
(also known as E150a) can be added; this is a common practice in whisky around
the world.
The move by the Japanese
Whisky industry to put in new regulations around production and labelling that
add to transparency was welcomed globally. However, as these regulations are
non-binding and considering the fact that three fifths of all Scottish Whisky
imported into Japan is in bulk containers, it is unlikely that they will
quickly adapt to the new ‘rules’.
This presents what could
be an interesting time for Japanese Whisky. The next few years will see big
changes to a number of brands, who need to either change the way they produce
their product, or drastically change their labels. It is believed this will
mainly affect the lower-mid range of the market, while demand for the
higher-end whiskies, and those distilled in Japan, will continue to rise as
their origin is already well known.
Practical advice is to buy
the best-known brands that have a history of using 100% Japanese distilled
Whisky such as Matsui, Taketsuru, Miyagiko, Hibiki, Yoichi, Hakushu, Yamazaki
and Kurizawa.
