Japanese whisky is rapidly approaching its centennial! This timeline takes a look back at the historical distilleries and brands that many of us have come to love over the years.
Use the filter to select a category.
Notes:
- The graphic shows only historical distilleries and brands. Anything Chichibu or later is not shown.
- Unfortunately, for many bottles, I was unable to find specific years in which they were launched or went away. Please comment if you are able to fill in any of the gaps!
- Items showing as ending in 2020 should be taken as current.
Hi there! I created and run nomunication.jp. I’ve lived in Tokyo since 2008, and I am a certified Shochu Kikisake-shi/Shochu Sommelier (焼酎唎酒師), Cocktail Professor (カクテル検定１級), and I hold Whisky Kentei Levels 3 and JW (ウイスキー検定３級・JW級). I also sit on the Executive Committees for the Tokyo Whisky & Spirits Competition and Japanese Whisky Day. Click here for more details about me and this site. Kampai!
Hi Richard!
Thanks for the very cool infographic! I found a couple of small errors with the Taketsuru range and the dates theY were discontinued. I believe just the 12 year was discontinued in 2014, but the 17,21 and 25 were just discontinued this year.
Cheers!
Hi Thor, thanks for your comments and the correction! I have updated the graphic.
For Suntory you are missing their grain distilleries in Osaka (Chikko) and Usuki (Oita). Which are closed now, obviously. Both started in the 40’s but I have no clue when they closed. The Osaka one is said to have closed in the 90’s but I only found one source for that and he has not always been right. Chikko was the main grain facility before Sungrain.
I do realize you probably can’t update this properly due to no end date and or official start date but it would be great if you could ask sources in Japan about this.