About
Sake and shochu brewery founded 1864 in Tottori Prefecture, now producing Western-style whisky at the Sakaiminato Distillery. Distillation started 2021. Plans to use sake yeast in whisky production. Ages in premium Mizunara oak casks (Japanese oak). Also produces craft gin 'Inpakuto' and vodka 'Enjin'. First single malt launched fall 2024. One of the newer producers in Japan's Chugoku region.
Production Details
The Chiyomusubi (Sakaiminato) Tale
At the edge of Japan's western shore, where the Sea of Japan meets the Nakaumi lagoon, the ancient craft of fermentation has found new expression. Sakaiminato, a fishing port in Tottori Prefecture, has witnessed the tides of change for centuries, but none quite like the transformation at Chiyomusubi Brewery.
For over a century and a half, since 1864, this brewery has coaxed rice into sake and shochu, their hands guided by the patient wisdom of generations. The local Sakaiminato water that flows through their processes carries the mineral whispers of coastal aquifers, shaped by proximity to both sea and mountain. In 2021, these same craftsmen turned their ancient understanding of fermentation toward an entirely different horizon.
The decision to distill whisky represents more than expansion—it embodies the Japanese principle of monozukuri, the relentless pursuit of perfection in making. Where Scottish tradition might rely on generations of barley wisdom, Chiyomusubi dares to introduce sake yeast into their whisky production, a marriage of Eastern fermentation mastery with Western distillation craft. This is not imitation but interpretation, the way jazz musicians might approach a classical score.
Their copper stills now sing a different song than the gentle bubbling of sake fermentation tanks, yet the same meticulous attention governs both. The distillery ages its new make spirit in premium Mizunara oak casks, those legendary Japanese oak vessels that demand decades to season properly, their tight grain releasing subtle incense notes that no other wood can match.
In the stillhouse, the air carries hints of the sea that shaped this place, mingling with the sweet aromatics of fermentation. The same hands that once perfected rice wine now guide the clear spirit into casks that will sleep for years, perhaps decades, before revealing their secrets.
When their first single malt emerged in fall 2024, it marked not an ending but a beginning—the first chapter of what whisky might become when filtered through centuries of Japanese brewing wisdom and the particular character of this coastal corner of Tottori. The tides continue their eternal rhythm outside, while inside, time works its patient alchemy on wood and spirit.