About
Fukuoka Prefecture's first whisky distillery, established by Shinozaki, a family sake and shochu maker with 200+ years of history. The SHINDO LAB concept ('New Road') spans 18,000 sq m and pursues fermentation-obsessed whisky. Uses Miyake Seisakusho pot stills. Released first whisky 'Shindo Experimental 01' in 2025. Also engaged in forestry, planning to use own-grown wood for barrels.
Production Details
The Shindo (Shinozaki) Tale
In the rolling hills of Asakura, where Fukuoka Prefecture meets the ancient rhythms of Kyushu, the Shinozaki family broke new ground in 2021. For more than two centuries, they had coaxed rice into sake and sweet potato into shochu, their hands shaped by generations of fermentation wisdom. But whisky—whisky was their shindo, their new road.
The eighteen-thousand-square-meter site they christened SHINDO LAB sprawls across land that knows the weight of tradition. Here, where local Asakura waters have carved their patient path through volcanic soil, Fukuoka Prefecture claimed its first whisky distillery. The water carries the mineral memory of Kyushu's mountains, filtered through layers of time until it emerges clear and soft, ready for transformation.
Inside the stillhouse, Miyake Seisakusho pot stills stand like copper monuments to Japanese craftsmanship. These aren't mere vessels but extensions of the Shinozaki philosophy—precision engineered, purpose-built instruments that reflect the family's obsession with fermentation. Every curve and angle serves the pursuit of flavor, each still a meditation on the ancient art of distillation refined through modern understanding.
The family's monozukuri spirit runs deeper than equipment. In the forests surrounding Asakura, they tend growing trees destined for barrel staves, planning decades ahead with the patience that sake-making taught them. This is whisky through a Japanese lens—not the hurried chase of quick returns, but the long view of craftsmen who measure success in generations.
When Shindo Experimental 01 emerged in 2025, it carried the weight of that two-hundred-year lineage and the promise of something unprecedented. Each bottle held the essence of Asakura's waters, the precision of Miyake stills, and the fermentation mastery that flows in Shinozaki blood.
Standing in this stillhouse today, you feel the convergence of old and new—ancient brewing wisdom meeting the patient art of whisky-making, all grounded in the red earth and clear waters of Kyushu. The new road stretches ahead, unmarked but certain.