Akkeshi

Founded in 2013 by the Kenten Company, Akkeshi Distillery is sometimes referred to as the little Lagavulin for its similarities to the famous Scottish distillery.

Akkeshi is the second Japanese whisky distillery based on the island of Hokkaido after the famous Yoichi distillery of Nikka. Like its neighbor, it is inspired by the Scottish spirit with its pair of Forsyths traditional pot stills and the use of peated barley to produce single malts with a strong peaty character like those of Islay.

The distillery, located in the heart of immense preserved marshes, benefits from a relatively cool climate in summer and very cold in winter, as well as a proximity to the sea allowing the whiskies to be enriched by the iodized spray of the sea air during maturation. 

Even before construction began in 2015, Katsuyuki Tatsuzaki, the distillery's director, procured casks from two Japanese distilleries; Eigashima and Araside, to set up the maturation process for his future whiskies. Then the distillation process began in 2016.

After several promising "new borns" barely a few months old, Akkeshi whiskies are making their appearance with the first bottling of Akkeshi Kanro single malt whisky Peated unveiled in 2020.