Nagahama

Nagahama is the smallest whisky distillery in Japan. It was one of the first of a growing trend that has occurred during the last decade where breweries expand into producing spirits. Nagahama is a hands-on boutique distillery that is following traditional Scottish whisky-making methods. Limited edition single malt whiskies are beginning to appear, so keep an eye open for them.

The Nagahama distillery is very small scale with an annual capacity of just 40,000 litres per year. The distillery uses equipment from the neighbouring brewery for mashing and fermentation. The mash tun has a 400kg capacity for barley and produces 1,600 litre batches of wort - a cloudy and sugary liquid that then undergoes fermentation. There are six stainless steel washbacks and they run a fermentation time of 60 hours.

The wash - the low alcohol liquid of approximately 7-8% ABV produced by fermentation - is transferred to a custom built still room. There are three small Alembic stills, each with a 1,000 litre capacity. Each batch of wash is split in half and distilled separately. The final spirit is collected at 68% ABV and then reduced to 59% ABV for cask filling.

Nagahama was founded in 2016 and built in just seven months. It is an extension to the Nagahama Roman Brewery, which is owned by the Liquor Mountain retail group. That was established in 1996 as one of Japan's first micro brewpubs. They produce the Roman Beer brand.