Description

The Akashi brand is produced at the White Oak Distillery and is owned by Eigashima Shuzo, who has nearly 100 years of whisky-making experience in Japan. Located in Akashi City, Hyogo Prefecture, it’s an area regarded for clean air and water and its close proximity to Osaka, overlooking the Seto Inland Sea.
Eigashima Shuzo first entered the spirit business to make sake and shochu in 1888, before it obtained a license to make whisky in Japan in 1919. As one of the pioneers in this field, the original distillery was built in the Scottish style and used only barley imported from Scotland, combined with that same fresh water supply from an underground source that’s used in its making of sake and other Japanese spirits.
The White Oak Distillery was actually built in 1984, transporting the pot stills and washbacks from the old facility and converting the previous stillhouse into a warehouse. The distillery location has a fascinating effect on the maturation of the whisky, not only because of any coastal influences but because of the huge temperature differences between summer and winter.