If you are upset at the current state of affairs of Japanese whisky, you’re not alone. All Japanese whisky distilleries are aware of the scope of the problem and are working to expand capacity.
Business daily Nikkei is reporting that Suntory plans to invest an additional 6 billion yen in its Ohmi Aging Facility. Construction is slated to begin in November 2019, and barrels will start going into it in May 2020.
In case this sounds familiar, it might! This new capital expenditure is in addition to the one they announced back in January 2018. That warehouse at Ohmi is currently under construction, and is expected to be operation in December of this year.
The new warehouse will hold 40,000 casks. When completed, Suntory expects to have room for some 1.58 million casks across all of their warehouses in Ohmi, Hakushu, and Yamazaki.
It’s moves like this that will hopefully one day lead to the re-introduction of beloved age-statement whiskies like the recently suspended Hibiki 17. It could take a decade, but at least we can hurry up and wait.
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