Discover the Miyagikyo distillery
Discover the Miyagikyo distillery
Whisky of the world
After three years of meticulous searching, Masataka Taketsuru and his adoptive son Takeshi’s quest to enhance Nikka’s blends led them to establish a new distillery in a remote valley of Honshu—Japan’s main island.
Sendai, built in 1969 and renamed Miyagikyo in 2001, is striking in how much it differs from Yoichi, which was founded in 1934 over 730 kilometres to the North.
Miyagikyo is sheltered from the sea, and benefits from a more temperate climate and milder ageing conditions than Yoichi. Surrounded by pines, cherry trees, and camellias, its red-brick buildings blend harmoniously into their preserved natural surroundings. The free-roaming monkeys and signs that warn of reptiles and insects are a reminder of how closely entwined the distillery is with nature.
◊ The distillery sits at the junction of two rivers, Hirose and Nikkawa—the latter’s name, purely coincidental, did not escape Masataka Taketsuru’s notice. Upon his first visit to the site, he prepared for himself a mizuwari using Black Nikka and water from the river: the very first sip convinced him that this was the place to build his distillery.
◊ Malt whisky and grain whisky production are housed in two separate buildings. One houses the large pot stills (which are heated with steam, unlike Yoichi’s). The stills are adorned with shide—zigzag-shaped paper streamers typical of the Shinto tradition. The second building is home to the legendary Coffey stills, whose 1960s-style yellow pipes have become a symbol of the distillery. The columns were originally commissioned in Glasgow for Taketsuru’s grain whisky distillery Nishinomiya (Hyogo prefecture), and were moved to Miyagikyo in 1999.
◊ Miyagikyo’s kiln is quite the sight: where the pagodas of some Scottish distilleries are purely ornamental, Miyagikyo’s is evidence of the brief period—1969 to 1975— when the distillery used to malt its barley on-site.
◊ The Miyagikyo visitor centre’s bar serves an exclusive selection of single casks and limited editions completely unavailable elsewhere. The cocktail menu is an opportunity to explore the entire range of spirits produced by the distillery: try the Tokyo Gimlet with Coffey Gin, and the Tokyo Mule made with Coffey Vodka.
◊ In the visitor centre’s seminar room, visitors seeking to learn the art of blending can create their own blends using various malts and grain from Miyagikyo and Yoichi: peaty and salty, sherry and sweet, fruity and rich, malty and soft, woody and vanillic…
◊ About twenty kilometres away, the city of Sendai has a rich nightlife, featuring numerous karaoke bars where one can enjoy mizuwaris, highballs, and other cocktails made with Nikka Whisky spirits.
◊ For lovers of the great outdoors, the maple and pine forests of the mountainous region of Miyagi prefecture are home to incredible vistas. The 1,841 metres tall Mount Zao is famous for its juhyo (frost-covered trees), hiking trails, and ski slopes. Masataka Taketsuru was particularly fond of the latter.
◊ Matsushima bay, less than an hour’s drive from the distillery, is one of Japan’s most famous vistas: the site is officially classified as one of the ‘Three Views of Japan,’ alongside Itsukushima Bay and Amanohashidate. This spectacular landscape of over 260 small, pine-covered islands dotting the Pacific Ocean, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Miyagkyo, Single Malt
Miyagkyo, Single Malt
