Brand new shining pot still (in Yoichi-shi, Hokkaido)
Kazuhiro Eguchi
A pot still at Nikka Whisky Yoichi Distillery got a brand new shining copper body for the first time in a quarter-century.
The old distillery in Yoichi-shi, Hokkaido, has seven pot stills. One of them got a new body which is approximately 8 meters wide in diameter. The replacement last time took place in 1990. According to Yoshikazu Koyano, Nikka’s general affairs manager, “The pot stills are rarely replaced and having a spanking new pot still in site is something very unusual.”
The first distillery in Japan was built in 1934 by Masataka Taketsuru who established Nikka Whisky and found Yoichi a perfect place to build his first distillery that needs a plenty of supply of barley and herbaceous peat. The venue became famous as a Japanese TV drama series based on the lives of Taketsuru and his Scottish wife was aired almost daily for half a year in the autumn and winter last year. The company offers guided tours for its visitors. It anticipates to receive three times as many visitors as last year.
(Nov. 17, 2015)