About
Located at 600m altitude in the Kuju highlands, Taketa City, Oita Prefecture. Founded by Shoji Utoda, creator of Whisky Talks Fukuoka (Kyushu's largest whisky festival), inspired by meeting Ichiro Akuto in 2005. Revived whisky distillation in Oita after Nikka's Kyushu plant closed in 1999. Cool climate, 10% locally-grown barley. Aims for light, fragrant Speyside-style whisky. 70,000L annual capacity. First release: New Born Batch #01 (2022). 'Kuju Sora' single malt released 2025.
Production Details
The Kuju Tale
Six hundred meters above sea level, where the Kuju highlands stretch across Taketa City in Oita Prefecture, a dream took shape in copper and steel. The year was 2021, and Shoji Utoda stood in the cool mountain air, watching his distillery rise from the volcanic soil of Kyushu's ancient peaks.
Sixteen years had passed since Utoda first met Ichiro Akuto, that pivotal encounter in 2005 planting seeds that would grow into Whisky Talks Fukuoka, Kyushu's largest whisky festival. Now, surrounded by the same highland springs that had drawn him here, Utoda was writing a different chapter—one that would revive whisky distillation in Oita Prefecture after Nikka's Kyushu plant had fallen silent in 1999.
The Kuju highland spring water flows with the clarity that only volcanic filtration can provide, carrying the mineral essence of these ancient mountains into every drop. At this elevation, where temperatures drop and mists gather, the climate mirrors distant Scottish glens—a gift of geography that Utoda recognized as essential to his vision.
Inside the stillhouse, the rhythm of production reflects Japanese monozukuri, that patient art of making things properly. Ten percent of the barley grows in local fields, connecting the whisky to its terroir in ways both practical and philosophical. The remaining grain arrives from afar, but the transformation happens here, in these highlands, where cool air and mountain water work their quiet alchemy.
The stills themselves tell the story of ambition measured in precise volumes—seventy thousand liters annually, enough to honor tradition without overwhelming the delicate balance of highland and craft. Utoda's vision reaches toward Speyside's light, fragrant character, but the path runs through distinctly Japanese sensibilities of harmony and restraint.
In 2022, New Born Batch #01 marked the first whisky to leave these mountain slopes. By 2025, Kuju Sora single malt will represent the full flowering of Utoda's highland vision—a whisky born from volcanic soil, mountain springs, and the patient revival of Oita's distilling heritage.
The highlands wait, as they always have, while time and craft work their transformation in wood and stone.