Carefully Selected Materials, and Blessings Bestowed by Nature

The malt barrels are made from Yakushima cedarwood, which is a first in whisky maturation. As trees, they have hard trunks, rich in oil content, strong against pests, and are impervious to rot. Komaki selects raw materials of whisky to be placed in these special containers.

Komaki also carefully choses its malt from domestic and international varieties, meticulously blended, to form whiskies perfect for maturation in Yakushima cedarwood. We ensure tastes and flavours are both wide and deep.

Water is the most important constituent of any whisky, and we draw ours from subterranean aquifers in the Shibi Mountains, parts of which Komaki Distillery owns. We conduct this water directly to our production site. The aquifers flow into the Sendai River, which empties into the East China Sea. People often see characteristic kawagoke-so here. This is a river plant requiring complete water purity to survive. Other than in the Sendai, kawagoke-so are found in only one other river in Japan - the Amori, also Kagoshima Prefecture. The plant is rare enough to be designated a Natural Monument.

Grain is whisky’s raw material, with yeast central to its fermentation. Komaki Distillery uses a choice blend of distiller’s and brewer’s yeasts (the latter being Bavarian Weizen, also used for our “Issho” shochu). The combination imparts depth of taste and flavour.

Text: Hisashi Ikai / Photo: Yoshikazu Shiraki