Tokachi
PlannedAbout
New distillery planned for Tokachi region, Hokkaido. Joint venture between liquor importers Scotch Malt Sales and Shinanoya, plus local company Hasegawa Sangyo. Two-storey distillery building (~1,400 sq m), three maturation buildings (~1,000 sq m). 300,000L annual capacity. Total project cost ~700 million yen. 'Tokachi Whisky Club' membership program launched. Brand: 'All Tokachi Whisky'. Target start autumn 2025. Forsyths pot stills. Owner's casks sold out.
Production Details
The Tokachi Tale
In the vast agricultural heartland of Hokkaido, where potato fields stretch toward distant mountains and the Tokachi River winds through Japan's breadbasket, a whisky dream takes shape. Here in the Tokachi Plain, where the land yields twenty percent of Japan's food, three companies have chosen to plant a different kind of harvest.
The partnership reflects Japan's collaborative spirit—Scotch Malt Sales and Shinanoya, both seasoned importers of foreign spirits, joining with local firm Hasegawa Sangyo. Together they envision something unprecedented: "All Tokachi Whisky," born entirely from this fertile plain. It's monozukuri applied to whisky—the meticulous craft of making something perfectly suited to its place.
Their chosen ground sits where Tokachi highland water flows clean and cold from the surrounding peaks. This water, filtered through volcanic soil and mountain stone, will become the lifeblood of copper pot stills crafted by Scotland's Forsyths—traditional Scottish engineering adapted to serve Japanese precision.
The planned distillery speaks to careful ambition: a two-storey building spanning fourteen hundred square meters, flanked by three maturation warehouses where Hokkaido's dramatic seasons will work their alchemy. The design targets three hundred thousand liters annually—substantial but not industrial, sized for quality over quantity.
Seven hundred million yen invested, owner's casks already sold out before a single drop distills—the Tokachi Whisky Club membership program proved that belief in this vision extends far beyond its creators. Members have bought into more than future whisky; they've invested in the idea that this northern plain, known for feeding Japan, can also craft spirits worthy of its reputation.
The Forsyths stills await installation, their copper forms soon to rise in a landscape of endless sky and rolling farmland. Come autumn 2025, when these stills first fire, they'll mark a new chapter in Japanese whisky—one written not in the shadow of mountains or beside ancient temples, but in the open embrace of Hokkaido's most productive earth.
The Tokachi tale begins with soil and water, ambition and patience, ready to unfold.