The Yamazaki Whiskey Distillery is the oldest distillery in Japan. It was built in 1923 near Kyoto, in an area where the soft ‘Rikyu’ water is among the top 100 spring waters of Japan.
It was my first time to visit a distillery so I had no idea what to expect. I think the Yamazaki Distillery is the biggest thing I’ve seen in Japan. It kind of felt like I was in Canada because the ceilings were so high and there were so many open spaces. The tour was really interesting and the distillery is really cool to see. Also, free tour + free booze = obvious choice.
My favorite part (other than the drinking part) was the distillation room. I thought the stills were really beautiful and majestic, like gold wizard hats (sounds weird but seriously, look at them).
I always like walking into the cask room of wineries and the distillery was no different. It’s kind of mysterious and spooky, a little bit cooler and it smells like wood. Mmm…wood smell…

12 year old cask and 4 year old cask demonstrates the “angel’s share”: the amount of whiskey that evaporates during the maturation process
There are about 5 different types of casks that are used at Yamazaki. These different casks allow for variants in whiskey flavour. The cask material is one of the main ingredients of the whiskey, giving it an amber tint and mature aroma.

A variety of single malt whiskies including the Yamazaki and Hakushu (another Suntory distillery) 10, 12, 18 + 25 year olds