About
Highest-sitting whisky distillery in Japan at 1,200m altitude in the Southern Alps, Shizuoka Prefecture. Parent company Tokushu Tokai Paper owns Japan's largest privately-held unbroken forest reserve (~120 years old). Began operation November 2020. Uses local Mizunara oak and ages whisky amidst the forest. 'DESSIN SERIES' Flora and Fauna releases from 2024. Stills designed with modified lyne arm angles for high-altitude distillation.
Production Details
The Ikawa Tale
In the Southern Alps of Shizuoka Prefecture, where the air thins at twelve hundred meters above sea level, Japan's highest whisky distillery found its calling among ancient trees. The Ikawa distillery sits at an elevation where clouds drift through the valleys below, a testament to the Japanese pursuit of perfection through extremes.
Here, in November 2020, Juzan Co., Ltd. began a whisky journey rooted in over a century of forest stewardship. Their parent company, Tokushu Tokai Paper, had tended Japan's largest privately-held forest reserve for one hundred and twenty years, understanding that time moves differently among the trees. The transition from paper to whisky was not abandonment but evolution—both crafts demand patience, precision, and reverence for wood.
The Tokusa spring, known locally as Kozoku spring, emerges from depths that make it Japan's highest natural water source. This mountain water carries the mineral memory of granite peaks and volcanic soil, flowing with the clarity that only altitude can bestow. Each drop has journeyed through layers of ancient stone, emerging pure enough to become the foundation of whisky.
The stills themselves tell the story of adaptation. Their lyne arms curve at modified angles, engineered specifically for the thin air that surrounds them. At this altitude, distillation behaves differently—vapor rises more eagerly, condensation follows mountain rhythms. The copper vessels breathe with the forest, their geometry a marriage of Scottish tradition and Japanese innovation.
Mizunara oak from the surrounding forest provides the aging vessels, these native trees contributing their distinctive spice to the maturing spirit. The whisky sleeps among the same trees that gave birth to its barrels, a circle of terroir that speaks to the Japanese concept of monozukuri—the art of making things with pride, dedication, and pursuit of perfection.
By 2024, the DESSIN SERIES emerged, releases named for the flora and fauna that share this mountain sanctuary. Each bottle carries not just whisky, but the essence of altitude, the patience of centuries-old forests, and the vision of craftsmen who saw possibility in the clouds.
The future rises with the mist each morning, promising expressions that will capture the unique character of Japan's roof.