The last distillery we visited on our Nippon journey 2019 was maybe the most interesting. 23 km west of the town Sendai is Miyagikyo located on the main island Honshu in Miyagi Prefecture, carefully placed in a glen where the two rivers Shinkawa and Hirose meets among the surrounding mountains, how beautiful can it be? Miyagikyo was in production 1969, 35 years after Nikkas founder Masataka Taketsuru had effectuated his first distillery Yoichi on the northern island Hokkaido. Masataka’s adoptive son Takeshi Taketsuru was in charge for the erecting off this new distillery and it was he that show his father the place for the distillery that he immediately fell in love in. 1998-1999 moved Nikka their production of grain whisky from the in these days demolished distillery Nishinomiya to Miyagikyo, it was two Coffey Stills (an old fashion type). Miyagikyo is one of very few distilleries in the world that makes Malt and Grain whisky at the same place.
Yoichi produces most peated Single Malt while Miyagikyo is produce most unpeated Single Malt. Peated or unpeated malt is not the only difference between Yoichi and Miyagikyo, the shape of the pot stills is also very different. Yoichi has small pot stills with short necks that are heated by coal. Miyagikyo has bigger pot stills that are heated by steam and have long bulge necks that give a lot of reflux and a slow distillation. This distillation method results in soft and floral new spirits. So, with different kinds of malts and grain whiskies Taketsuru now has the full possibility to make a so complex Blended Whisky’s that he wants and a large spectra of Malt Whiskies as well.
When we visited Miyagikyo we took the bus from Sendai and jumped off the bus just a few minutes walk from the distillery. It was a beautiful day but difficult to see the big distillery even though we were so close. It was due to the lush greenery but also to that the distillery is carefully located and follows the shapes of nature in a fantastic way. This was a deliberate act when building the distillery, as little excavation work as possible and let the distillery blend in with nature.
The excellent guides Kazuyuki and Ross welcomed us when we arrived. First, we got some information about the Miyagikyo and Nikka. After the information we took a nice walk through the distillery units, and once again it struck me; what a beautiful place this is. The final part of our visit was the tasting, we were let to try their key malts and some more, a very good and interesting tasting.
Many thanks to Kazuyuki and Ross for a terrific day.
