Paper maker Tokushu Tokai Paper is no small guppy - the company has been around for about 120 years and owns bar none the largest privately-held unbroken parcel of property in Japan in the form of a massive forest reserve, which even encompasses the largest water source in Japan. And somewhere in the middle of that lies a comparatively minuscule whisky distillery - the Ikawa Distillery.

Who Goes There? A Mysterious Distillery Is Built In The Center Of Japan's Largest Private Forest Reserve

The land here in the Southern Alps of Minami, which also encompasses the start of the Oi River, was once the territorial domain of the Edo Shogunate, and thereafter became acquired by Okura Kihachiro who had used it to start a paper manufacturing business. Yet, a 120 years sure is a long time, and in that time, the world's certainly changed. With a worldwide shift towards digital, that means a lesser need for paper, and put on top of that a government initiative to construct a maglev speed rail that will run through the forest reserve, linking Tokyo straight to Nagoya, and it starts to make clear why it felt like high time to use the serene natural environment for something else. A distillery was interestingly one of the ideas that emerged, which might seem rather peculiar, however, the company had found that with an average temperature of 7°C and humidity of 70%, the forest's climate had actually resembled that of Scotland!

And so in 2020, the company (under the name Juzan, a subsidiary of Tokushu Tokai Paper) had finally constructed the Ikawa Distillery at an altitude of 1,200m in the Ikawa Forest, which is recognised as a UNESCO Eco Park (Biosphere Reserve). Located right in the middle, the distillery is likely the most isolated distillery in Japan, requiring a 4-hour drive from the nearest Shizuoka station (an hour by Shinkansen from Tokyo), with not even a convenience store konbini within hours away - the distillery is so deeply tucked within the forest that its team stays on an on-site dormitory and only leaves the forest every 10 days. Whilst Ikawa Distillery falls within the scope of the Shizuoka Prefecture, it remains incredibly distant from its fellow prefecture-sharing Shizuoka Distillery, and yet (due to the length of the mountain ranges of Mount Kita) also happen to share the Minami Alps with Suntory's Hakushu Distillery, with also Mars' Komagatake about equidistant from Ikawa Distillery to Shizuoka Distillery - which all is to say this area of Japan now happens to be of a rather high concentration of whisky distilleries. Yet, Ikawa Distillery still very comfortably holds the acclaim of being the highest sitting whisky distillery in Japan.

How Ikawa Makes Its Whiskies In The Most Remote Part Of Japan

The goal for Ikawa Distillery has been to capture the essence of the great outdoors of the Southern Alps in its whisky - this would created and expressed via the use of spring water from the Kozoku spring, Mizunara oak which grows within the Ikawa Forest, and the aging of the whisky amidst the forest of course.

Using Scottish malted barley (non-peated, medium-peated 30 ppm and heavily-peated 50ppm), the distillery aims to produce a clear wort that is to be fermented with distiller's yeast for up to 68 hours in temperature controlled stainless steel tanks fitted with water jackets to maintain temperature stability, which is then distilled in two locally manufactured Miyake pot stills. Special attention was paid to how the lyne arms were tilted downwards to account for the low air pressure as a result of the distillery's high altitude. Ikawa has thus stated that their goal is to produce an aromatic, clean and full-bodied whisky. It is said by visitors of Ikawa Distillery that the team there takes a deeply analytical approach to its whiskymaking, taking many measurements along the process and studying every aspect, even having one designated team member to handle each part of the whiskymaking - the goal being to zero in on what's working and to then replicate it.

Using the expansive forests to the fullest advantage, Ikawa has no shortfall when it comes to wood needed for ageing barrels - they've even got their own in-house cooperage! Together with local woodwork company Wasugi, which otherwise specialises in the restoration of temples and shrines, Ikawa has even touted the ability to easily get hands on a 100-year-old chestnut tree which had fallen and was then used for whisky barrels. Whilst the distillery has aimed to incorporate more Mizunara oak (amongst other woods beyond oak), it currently primarily ages its whiskies in the more conventional Sherry and Bourbon barrels, with a larger bias towards Sherry ageing. No matter the cask type, these barrels are then left to age on-site in the foggy, cool, humid forests of the Southern Alps.

As one of the Japanese craft distillers that had gotten to a headstart by having its distillery ready before the global pandemic, Ikawa Distillery comfortably sits on a reserve of barrels that are well past the 3 year mark to be considered fully fledged Japanese single malts. Into 2024, the distillery released its first expression Dessin Series Floral 2024, which pays tribute to rare local flowers that can be found in the Ikawa Forest. Moving forward, the distillery plans to concurrently release two series' of whiskies - the Flora series which focuses on non-peated whiskies, and the Fauna series which showcases peated whiskies. Building into its inaugural single malt release, Ikawa had also produced a Labo series which bottled several Newborns and experimental whiskies.

Kanpai!

@111hotpot