NIKKA
Kyoto, Japan
Shinjiro Torii didn’t create Suntory Whisky alone. A young Japanese man who was studying whisky in Scotland in the 1910’s is integral in this story. Masataka Taketsuru joined Torii to produce Japan’s first whiskies at Yamazaki in Kyoto but a series of differences lead to Taketsuru’s departure north to Hokkaido where he purchased the Dai Nippon Kaju or Great Japanese Juice Company in Yoichi. He managed production of the region’s famous Apple juice and brandy to fund construction of his own whisky distillery. The juice company’s name lives on today as NIKKA is a contraction of NI-ppon and KA-ju.