Fuji-Gotemba’s story
The Fuji-Gotemba distillery is located in the town of Gotemba, and lies at the foot of Japan’s iconic Mount Fuji, less than 12km (7.5 miles) from the summit. The distillery covers a massive 1.7 million square feet (520,000 square metres) making it the largest distillery in the world by area, and has a capacity of an impressive 12 million litres a year. It produces both single malt and grain whiskies with barley imported barley from the UK and Ireland.
The single malt and grain whisky production are produced in separate still houses. Fuji-Gotemba is also one of the few Japanese distilleries to feature its own bottling plant and cooperage. The whisky produced there contributes to numerous Japanese blends, including the popular Evermore, but when released is sold under two names – Fuji-Gotemba and Fuji Sanroku (which translates as ‘at the feet of Fuji’ from Japanese).
Fuji-Gotemba’s history
The Fuji-Gotemba distillery was founded in the early 1970s by a multi-national collaboration of whisky companies. They drew up plans to open a distillery to meet consumer demand and production began in 1973. The collaboration was formed of Seagrams from Canada, Chivas Brothers from Scotland, Four Roses distillery from America and the Kirin Brewery Company from Japan.
They selected the site at Gotemba as it was felt it had a similar climate to Scotland. The town is 2000+ feet (610 metres) above sea level and is much cooler and less humid, especially during Summer months, than other areas of Japan. The distillery was originally named Gotemba Distillery and changed to Fuji-Gotemba when it came under the sole ownership of Kirin in 2002. In 2018, it was renamed as Mount Fuji Distillery, but reverted to Fuji-Gotemba in 2023 as part of the distillery’s 50th anniversary celebrations.
- How to pronounce Fuji-Gotemba? foo-ji got-em-ba
- Country: Japan
- Region: Shizuoka
- Founded: 1973
- Current owners: Kirin Holdings Company
- Production capacity per year: 12 million litres
- Visitor centre: No
Fuji-Gotemba Distillery
Shibanuta 970
Gotemba-shi
Shizuoka-ken
412-0003
tel – +81(0)550 89 4909
www.fujiwhisky.com
Did you know?
The water used in whisky production at Fuji-Gotemba is taken from underground springs that are fuelled by melting snow from nearby Mount Fuji. It takes almost 50 years to reach the surface after falling originally as snow.