Eigashima / Akashi

The distillery was founded by Eigashima Shuzo in 1888 in order to produce sake and shochu. The company only started distilling whisky in 1984 in the then new distillery called ‘White Oak’. It is located near the city of Kobe. The whisky production forms a very small part of their current business, as their main concentration is sake and sochu.

The location of Eigashima’s warehouse for maturation is very hot in the summer. This results in the maturing whisky losing 7-8% of whatever is in the cask every year to evaporation, compared to only 2% in most of Scotland. However, the warmer temperature also means faster maturation for the whisky.