CHICHIBU

Satama, Japan

Another whisky distillery borne out Shinjiro Torii, Ichiro Akuto worked in the marketing department at Suntory before hearing his grandfather’s Hanyu distillery in Saitama prefecture was going out of business. He purchased Hanyu’s casks before the distillery folded, cleverly released them slowly to preserve his grandfather’s work and fund the construction of his own distillery in the same region. Akuto has been instrumental in the modern movement of Japanese whisky with youthful releases at a high alcohol strength, Akuto has become a star for the global whisky industry.