Two New Stills for Hakushu Distillery

Post by Stefan Van Eycken, Tokyo

A year after the addition of four new stills to Yamazaki distillery, Suntory has just announced it will be following suit at its Hakushu distillery. The distillery in the Southern Alps is getting an extra pair (i.e. two, not four stills) and the estimated cost of the expansion is a massive one billion yen. It is projected the first spirit will flow off the new pair of stills in September of this year. Talk about not wasting time…
Hakushu Stills © Stefan Van Eycken
Having just introduced its entry-level Hakushu and Yamazaki NAS versions in Europe, the distillery expansions are urgently needed to keep up with growing demand for all whiskies in the Suntory portfolio, both at home and abroad. The extra pair of stills at Hakushu is intended to boost capacity with about 30% at the distillery there. The big question is: where does Suntory go from here, if the sort of growth we are witnessing now is sustained over the next few years…

Comments

Nick said…
I think it's probably two pairs. There were 12 stills, so that would tally with the 30% increase, and the cost - 1 billion - is the same as the expansion at Yamazaki, which saw them add 4 stills.

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