Situated in Kōriyama, Fukushima Prefecture, Asaka Distillery is the only whisky producer in Japan’s Tōhoku region. Owned by Sasanokawa Shuzo, a sake and shochu maker with roots stretching back to 1765, Asaka is steeped in centuries of brewing tradition. In 1946, the company obtained a license to distill whisky. While early blends, including the popular “Cherry Whisky” of the 1980s, combined imported Scotch with domestic spirit, full-scale production lay dormant until 2016.
The revival of Asaka emerged in 2015 when company leadership, inspired by the global rise in Japanese whisky appreciation, repurposed an old sake warehouse into a distillery. Leveraging existing infrastructure like sake fermentation tanks as washbacks and installing newly sourced Miyake pot stills, the distillery officially launched in 2016.
Asaka benefits from exceptional natural resources. Water drawn from the Asaka Canal, itself sourced from Lake Inawashiro, enriches the whisky with pristine clarity and minerality. Meanwhile, Tōhoku’s significant seasonal temperature shifts, including cold winds from Mt. Bandai, enhance maturation. Accelerating cask interaction and flavor development.
The distillery’s inaugural single malt, “Asaka The First,” launched in 2019 in a limited release. Alongside this, the Yamazakura brand continues with both blended and single malt whiskies, celebrated for layered complexity and craftsmanship. Notably, Yamazakura World Blended Whisky & 4 earned top honors in the 2024 Feminaries and Tokyo Whisky & Spirits Competition, reaffirming Asaka’s growing prestige. Its Blended Malt Mizunara Wood Reserve also captured the World Whisky Awards’ highest recognition in 2022, showcasing the distillery’s skillful use of Japanese oak.
Emerging from historic roots and reborn with purpose, Asaka Distillery stands today as a unique fusion of traditional heritage, thoughtful innovation, and regional identity, forging a compelling presence in the global whisky community.
