It’s said that it’s the climate that makes the spirit. The five biggest whisky producers in the world include Ireland, Scotland, America, Canada and also Japan. The ingredients that produce whisky, and refine it in the barrel are wheat born of earth, cool clear water, and a climate with large differences in temperature.

Asaka plain, Fukushima Prefecture. This land, through which flows the Asaka canal, is home to the Asaka distillery, maker of the only local whisky in the Tohoku region. It was founded in 1946 when the Yamazakura Shuzo obtained a whisky license. Its history as a sake brewery stretches back more than 300 years to its establishment on the southern shore of Lake Inawashiro in 1710.

In 1765 it moved to Koriyama and continued to produce its famous sake, bathed in the wind blowing down Mt. Bandai. But the shortage of rice following the war forced the brewery on hard times. This is when it turned to making whisky, which gained popularity with the influx of western culture.