Heroes
Shinjirō Torii (鳥井 信治郎) - Japanese whisky pioneer
Published 04/04/2021
The history of Japanese whisky production began officially in 1923 in Yamazaki through Shinjiro Torii. Today his company Beam Suntory is one of the big five globally. Born in 1879, he worked for a pharmaceutical wholesaler that was also active in the wine and spirits sector. In 1899 Shinjirō Torii founded the company Torii Shoten with a shop in Osaka and initially sold imported wine there within his country. In 1907 he expanded his range to include his self-made Akadama port, which was also sold successfully in Nippon.
Shinjirō Torii (鳥井 信治郎) - Japanese whisky pioneer
Masataka Taketsuru (竹鶴 政孝) - Japanese whisky pioneer
Published 17/03/2021
It’s not possible to tell the story of Japanese whisky without two names, Shinjirō Torii the entrepreneur determined to establish a domestic whisky industry, and Masataka Taketsuru who dreamed of making authentic whisky of the Scottish style. At the beginning of the 20th century the two worked together to found the first of the largest and most famous distilleries in Japan today, Suntory. Ultimately this fraught partnership ended and Masataka Taketsuru would go on to found Nikka supported by his Scottish wife Rita.
Masataka Taketsuru (竹鶴 政孝) - Japanese whisky pioneer
Alfred Barnard - The First Whisky Pilgrim
Published 17/01/2021
Alfred Barnard was a recognized brewing and distillery historian and some might argue the very first whisky pilgrim. As Secretary of Harper’s Weekly Gazette, he visited every active whiskey distillery in Great Britain and Ireland from 1885 to 1887. In total, he visited an incredible 162 distilleries, 129 in Scotland, 29 in Ireland and 4 in England. The result was a monumental book of 500 pages, all of which you can read here on whiskipedia.
Alfred Barnard - The First Whisky Pilgrim