Suntory will open the Suntory Yamazaki Distillery, which has been undergoing renovation work, to the public on November 1. Prior to this, the interior of the distillery was opened to the press on October 11.
The Yamazaki distillery, where Suntory founder Shinjiro Torii began making whiskey in 1923, will open its doors to the public on November 1 and offer a new tour of the distillery, which will showcase the company’s efforts to establish whiskey in Japan through repeated improvements, despite various difficulties faced by the Japanese people who said the product was not suitable for their palates. The history of the company and its commitment to whiskey production will be introduced, and tastings will be available.
Two tours are available: “Yamazaki Distillery Manufacturing Tour” (80 minutes, 3,000 yen) and “Yamazaki Distillery Manufacturing Tour Prestige” (120 minutes, 10,000 yen). Both tours are offered by lottery, and reservations can be made through the company’s website.
The basic “Yamazaki Distillery Manufacturing Tour” takes visitors on a journey through the distillery’s processes of preparation, fermentation, distillation, and storage, and concludes with a tasting of Suntory Single Malt Whisky Yamazaki, malt whisky in bulk, and Yamazaki High Ball.
In the premium “Yamazaki Distillery Manufacturing Tour Prestige”, in addition to the above, you will be able to observe the production area, which is normally off-limits to visitors, and enjoy tasting Yamazaki 12year old and other products.
With this renewal, visitors can experience the whisky-making process with all five senses more fully than they could in the pre-Corona tour.
In the newly installed pre-fermentation room, the raw materials and manufacturing process are introduced with video. Visitors can also enter the fermentation room, which was previously inaccessible, and in the prestige course, a person in charge opens the lid of the fermentation vat and watches the bubbling process with aroma.
The walls of the distillation building, lined with huge pot stills, are painted with the Yamazaki logo, and panels explaining the distillation process have been installed in the area before entering the room. Inside the distillation room, visitors can physically feel the heat from the kettles in operation. Beyond the distillation room, a large number of barrels have been stored for many years, and the prestige tour also allows visitors to observe the sampling process.
For tastings held after the tour of the facilities, “The YAMAZAKI” guest room for prestige tours has also been newly established. In this guest room, copper plates from pot stills and barrel wood used in the distillery have been reused to make tables, chairs, and bar counters, allowing visitors to enjoy tastings while experiencing the history of the Yamazaki distillery.
Although not included in the tour for the general public, the “Pilot Distillery,” where research and development for whiskey production is conducted, was also open to the public during this visit. This facility is a miniature version of the distillery’s main factory, where technology development related to quality improvement is conducted.
The distillation kettles at the main plant use two heating methods, direct heat and steam, but the pilot distillery has introduced an electric heating system on a trial basis in addition to direct heat, with the intention of continuing to make whiskey while taking the environment into consideration.
While the above two tours are available for a fee and by lottery, visitors can visit the Yamazaki Whisky Pavilion, located just inside the entrance, for free on a first-come, first-served basis. Although visitors cannot observe the production process, they can learn about the company’s history and the whiskey-making process through panel displays, and there is also a tasting lounge and a store where visitors can purchase original goods for a fee.
© Source travel watch
Auto Amazon Links: No products found.
Auto Amazon Links: No products found.