Suntory Hakushu Distillery

Suntory Hakushu Distillery, established in 1973, is nestled in the forests of the Southern Alps. It offers guided tours, a whisky museum, tasting lounge, and a gift shop, providing a comprehensive experience of Hakushu whisky.

Planning your visit

Hakushu is Suntory's forest distillery, established in 1973 in the woodland of the Southern Japanese Alps at around 700 metres — one of the highest whisky distilleries in the world. The setting is deliberate and it matters to the product: cool air, dense forest and soft granite-filtered water from the Kaikoma mountains, which gives Hakushu its characteristically light, herbal, faintly smoky profile.

The site includes a whisky museum covering Japanese whisky's history from Suntory's founding through Yamazaki and Hakushu, a tasting lounge, a shop and a bird sanctuary in the surrounding woods. Distillery tours cover mashing, fermentation in wooden washbacks, the distinctive pot stills and the warehouses.

Two practical points. Tours require advance reservation and are frequently fully booked well ahead, particularly since Japanese whisky's international boom. And aged Hakushu stock has been in short supply for years, so what is available for tasting and purchase varies.

It sits in Hokuto, Yamanashi prefecture, reachable from Tokyo in around two hours. Bookable options include Mount Fuji day tours incorporating the distillery. Current availability is listed below.