Kuju Distillery

Established in 2021 by Shoji Utoda, Kuju Distillery is one the most exciting up-and-coming whisky distilleries in a budding generation of Japanese whisky producers. Located in Oita Prefecture in the town of Oita, Kuju Distillery sits on the Kuju Plateau surrounded by the lush environment of Japan’s southernmost island, Kyushu, distilling and blending malt whiskies inspired by the beauty of the region and Scottish whisky-making tradition.

Shoji Utoda, born and raised in Oita Prefecture, left home to study agriculture and developed a deep appreciation for Scotch while in college. After three years working as a “salaryman,” he returned home in 2000 to work for his family’s liquor retail and distribution business, Tsuzaki Trading Co, of which he is now President and Director. As the co-founder of Whisky Talk Fukuoka—one of Japan’s largest annual whisky festivals—he dreamed of one day distilling his own whisky, but it wasn’t until 2016 that he was able to purchase a plot of land once home to defunct sake brewery Kobayakawa Shuzo. Utoda suspected that the location of the brewery likely meant access to an abundance of fresh water, and a spring was discovered after drilling just forty meters below ground in the nearby Kuju National Park.

With the location settled upon and distillery plans drawn up (after a visit from Richard Forsyths Jr.), Utoda began an internship at Chichibu Distillery in Saitama to formally learn how to make whisky. Utoda is among the earliest champions of Chichibu, and first met Chichibu’s founder, Ichiro Akuto, in 2004 when hand-selling early bottlings of Ichiro’s Malt from his family’s Hanyu Distillery stock. Complementing Utoda’s education, Kuju Distillery’s Head Distiller, Yu Takeshi, trained at the Mars Tsunuki Distillery in Kagoshima. These combined experiences from two of Japan’s greatest distilleries gave the startup the knowledge and confidence to begin distilling its own whiskies, and by 2019, Utoda had raised enough money, by issuing corporate bonds to bartenders, liquor retailers, and other interested investors to purchase a new building and distillery equipment.

Copper pot stills were purchased that year from Forsyths & Co. with construction at the distillery set to begin in spring 2020. Unfortunately, when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, the Scottish engineers who were supposed to assemble the equipment were unable to travel to Japan. Instead, Utoda hired local shochu equipment manufacturer Hirano Shoten, and using the assembly plans supplied by Forsyths and virtual support, the distillery was completed by the end of December. Kuju Distillery received its whisky license less than two weeks later, on January 5, 2021, and distilled its first whisky the following month.

All production, from the milling of the grain to bottling, takes place at the distillery, handled by a small team of just five, including Utoda and Takeishi. The distillery focuses on distilling unpeated malt but dedicates two months out of the year to peated malt. Most of the malt is imported, with roughly 10% locally sourced from contract farmers within Oita Prefecture. Fermentation employs distiller’s yeast and takes place in wooden fermentation tanks made of Douglas fir to promote stable lactic acid fermentation during a four-day period. The Forsyths pot stills are designed with straight heads and lyne arms that only slightly descend to create the distillery’s bold style of whisky. Shoji Utoda makes no secret of his love for Speyside Scotch, and Kuju Distillery’s complex and flavorful whiskies are heavily inspired by the rich, fruity style of that region.