ADVANCE PUBLICATION

Annals of Business Administrative Science

https://doi.org/10.7880/abas.0191111a
Received: November 11, 2019; accepted: December 20, 2019
Published in advance on J-STAGE: January 11, 2020

The Birth of Japanese Whisky:

A Case of Suntory
Yuki MITOMI,a) Youngkyo SUH,b) and Hidenori SATOc)

Abstract: Japanese whisky now ranks as one of the five major

whiskies in the world, but how did it come about? Suntory, which
has won several prizes in international competitions since the
beginning of the 21st century, was making many types of
component whisky in the 1980s, when it was trying to deal with
diversifying consumer needs and suffered from declining whisky
sales. Ironically, these various malts led to the production of many
high-quality blended whiskies, which are now winning prizes in
international competitions.

Keywords: Japanese whisky, Suntory, product development,

resource-based venturing

a)
Faculty of Economics, Takasaki City University of Economics, Kaminamiemachi 1300, Takasaki City,
Gunma, Japan, mitomi@tcue.ac.jp
b)
Faculty of Business Administration, Toyo University, 5-28-20, Hakusan, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, Japan,
ruiberd@gmail.com
c)
Faculty of Business Sciences, University of Tsukuba, 3-29-1 Otsuka, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, Japan,
sato.hidenori.fn@u.tsukuba.ac.jp
A version of this paper was presented at the ABAS Conference 2019 Autumn (Mitomi, Suh, & Sato,
2019).
© 2020 Yuki Mitomi, Youngkyo Suh, and Hidenori Sato. This is an Open Access article distributed
under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted reuse,
distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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 Mitomi, Suh, and Sato

Introduction
At the end of the 20th century, the Japanese whisky industry was
in decline. However, since the turn of the 21st century, the Japanese
whisky industry’s shipments and export volumes have started to
increase, after bottoming out in 2007. In particular, export volumes
doubled over the two-year period of 2013–14, so that exports in 2018
were almost seven times their recent low recorded in 2007 (Table
1). Newly established small businesses are also entering the whisky
industry (Suh, Mitomi, & Sato, 2019). Nine new distilleries were
founded between 2014 and 2017.
The reason for the domestic resurgence can be attributed to the
popularity of Suntory’s Kaku Highball since 2008. According to one
theory, Lehman Brothers collapsed that year, and many business
people started drinking highballs as a way of getting a high-quality
drink at a reasonable price; young consumers started drinking
highballs out of a sense of adventure (Nagai, 2014), while another
theory contends that Suntory itself wanted to spur consumer
demand by redefining whisky to promote it as a drink to enjoy while
eating, instead of its prevailing image as a drink to be enjoyed when it
has been aged (Nonaka & Katumi, 2011).
However, the reason that Japanese whisky exports increased had
nothing to do with the highball. What spurred these exports was the
attention and praises that such whisky as “Yamazaki” and “Hibiki”
by Suntory Spirits and “Taketsuru” by Nikka Whisky were garnering
in the International Spirits Challenge (ISC), the World Whisky Award
(WWA), and other major overseas competitions.
The ISC, which is sponsored by Drinks International, a British
publisher specializing in alcoholic beverages, is an annual spirits
competition held in England. In 2003, “Yamazaki 12 Years Old” was

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 The birth of Japanese whisky

Table 1. Shipment volume/export volume of whisky in Japan

Source: Source: Shipment volumes are from the Western liquor shipments volume
survey forms in the statistics by the Japan Spirits & Liqueurs Makers
Association. Export volumes are from “Trends in Liquor Exports” on the National
Tax Agency’s website. https://www.nta.go.jp/taxes/sake/yushutsu/
yushutsu_tokei/index.htm

the first to win a gold medal.1 According to Suntory’s Manabu Seki,2

the impetus for entering the competition was that single malt whisky
was at the time popular on a global basis, so in preparation for its
80th anniversary of making whisky, Suntory wanted to try to
revitalize Japanese domestic demand for whisky by having its

1 Suntory official website https://www.suntory.co.jp/whisky/yamazaki/

award/
2 Senior General Manager, Corporate Planning Dept., Suntory BWS (Suntory
Beer, Wine & Spirits Japan, Ltd.)
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 Mitomi, Suh, and Sato

distilleries take various steps so that the quality of their single malt
whiskies would gain recognition outside Japan. Suntory’s products
have won many prizes since then. “Hibiki 30 Years Old” won a trophy
for three consecutive years from 2006 to 2008, “Yamazaki 18 Years
Old” won a gold medal in 2007, and since 2007, 10 or more Suntory
whiskies have won trophies, gold medals, silver medals, and bronze
medals every year.3
The WWA got its start in 2001 as the Best of the Best competition
sponsored by the British whisky specialty magazine, Whisky
Magazine. The Best of the Best took place every other year, but it has
been held every year since it became the WWA in 2007. In 2012, the
WWA chose “Yamazaki 25 Years Old” as the “world’s best single malt
whisky,” and in 2013, it chose “Hibiki 21 Years Old” as the “world’s
best blended malt whisky.” “Hibiki 21 Years Old” was chosen as the
“world’s best blended malt whisky” in both 2016 and 2017, while in
2018, “Hakushu 25 Years Old” was chosen as the “world’s best single
malt whisky.”4
Thus, Japanese whisky has now taken its place among the ranks of
the world’s top five whiskies, along with Scotch whisky, Irish whisky,
bourbon whisky, and Canadian whisky. However, although the
definition of whisky produced in Japan is set forth in the Liquor Tax
Act, the statute does not have any regulations governing aging casks,
production location, the alcohol content of the bottled products, etc.,
nor are there any provisions for determining the conditions to be met
for a product to be called “Japanese whisky” (Kodama, 2019). At
present, the decision on whether to brand a product as “Japanese
whisky” is up to each manufacturer.

3 International Spirits Challenge 2019 official website

https://www.internationalspiritschallenge.com/internationalspiritschalle
nge2019/en/page/home
4 World Whiskies Award official website
http://www.worldwhiskiesawards.com/
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 The birth of Japanese whisky

Therefore, this paper will focus on Suntory Spirits, which is

synonymous with Japanese whisky, in an attempt to identify the
path whereby international prize-winning whiskies were
developed. In fact, the component whiskies for the whisky praised in
these major competitions was researched and developed between
1983 and 1990, when Japanese domestic whisky shipments had
declined. During this period when Suntory was having trouble
dealing with consumers’ diversifying needs, the company invested in
distilleries and developed a line of various specialty component
whiskies, which it was later able to vat and blend and thus
develop high-quality whiskies with many unique attributes.

Past Images of Japanese Whisky

The first whisky made in Japan was Suntory Whisky Shirofuda,
launched in 1929. Back then, the reviews of this whisky said that it
tasted terrible, as though it was burnt or scorched (Tsuchiya, Mogi, &
Koshimizu, 2010). Next, whiskies were produced to meet Japanese
tastes, among them being “Suntory Whisky Kakubin,” launched in
1937, and “Suntory Whisky Kuromaru” (later called “Suntory Old”),
launched in 1950.5 After “TORYS Whisky” was launched in 1949,
TORYS bars appeared in Tokyo, Osaka, and other cities around 1955,
and the highball became popular. During the 1950s and 1960s,
whisky sales grew in tandem with Japan’s high economic growth.
However, domestic consumption of whisky started to decline since
1984. This has been attributed to price hikes in 1983 and an increase
in the liquor tax in 1984, but actually there was a boom in shochu in
1982–85, during which consumption of shochu liquor rose 2.3 times,
eating into the consumption of both whisky and beer, which fell
significantly. At that time, whisky had a fixed image in Japan of being

5 Suntory Old itself was born in 1940, but its launch was delayed by 10
years, until 1950, due to the war.
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 Mitomi, Suh, and Sato

harsh, pungent, and a man’s drink (Tsuchiya et al., 2010). It was also
saddled with the image of being an old man’s drink and passé (Nagai,
2014).
At that time, Japanese whisky did not have a favorable reputation
abroad. Until it got good reviews in international competitions,
Japanese whisky was panned as being “not whisky at all” (Hashiguti,
2014). One reason was that until Japan’s Liquor Tax Act was
amended in 1989, whisky was graded according to its component
whisky content. In 1949, under the old Liquor Tax act (enacted in
1940), whisky with component whisky content of 30% or more was
first class, with component whisky content of at least 5% but less
than 30% was second class, and that with component whisky
content of less than 5% was third class. The 1953 Liquor Tax Act,
which totally amended the previous statute, changed the
nomenclature of first-class whisky, second-class whisky, and
third-class whisky to special-class whisky, first-class whisky, and
second-class whisky (Taketsuru, 1968). As a result, the component
whisky content under the 1953 amended law was as follows:

A) Special-class whisky: Products with component whisky content

of 30% or more.
B First-class whisky: Products with component whisky content of
at least 5% but less than 30%.
C) Second-class whisky: Products with component whisky content
of less than 5%.

Later, in the 1962 revision of the law, the component whisky contents
were raised so that the judgment criteria for the three classes were
changed to the following (Hozumi, 1965).

A) Special-class whisky: Products with component whisky content

of 20% of more and a standard alcohol content of 43% or more.
B) First-class whisky: Products with component whisky content of

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 The birth of Japanese whisky

at least 10% but less than 20% and a standard alcohol content of
40%.
C) Second-class whisky: Products with component whisky content
of less than 10% and a standard alcohol content of 37%.

But in any case, if component whisky were not in the mixture, calling
it whisky was viewed as problematic. In the 1968 revision, products
with component whisky content of less than 7% were no longer
considered to be whiskies, and the component whisky content of
special-class and first-class whiskies were each raised by 3%
(Taketsuru, 1975). After that, in the 1978 revision, the component
whisky content rates were raised again, to the following (Miki, 1983).

A) Special-class whisky: Products with component whisky content

of 27% or more and standard alcohol content of 43% of more.
B) First-class whisky: Products with component whisky content of
at least 17% but less than 27% and a standard alcohol content of
at least 40% but less than 43%.
C) Second-class whisky: Products with component whisky content
of at least 10% but less than 17% and that does not qualify as
special-class whisky or first-class whisky.

In other words, during this period, the component whisky content

of whisky was so low that in Britain, Japanese first-class and
second-class whiskies were criticized as not being real whisky
(Kashiwa, 1990). This grading system continued until it was
abolished with the 1989 revision of the Liquor Tax Act.

Product Development in Decline Stage

When whisky sales were in decline, Japanese consumers had
changed their drinking habits, starting with the chuhai (shochu and
soda) boom and continuing with such drinks as brandy, bourbon,

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 Mitomi, Suh, and Sato

and other Western alcoholic beverages. This caused domestic whisky

sales to go down, and “looking at consumers’ diversifying and
individual tastes, we energetically embarked on new whisky product
development in order to create demand” (interview with Mr. Seki). As
a result, with the need to respond to consumption trends toward
individualization and diversification, particularly among young
people, when whisky sales were plummeting in 1983–85, Suntory
came up with a new concept in its product development and started
marketing various types of whisky one after the other.

• 1983: The launch of “Suntory Whisky Q,” targeted at young

consumers.
• 1984: The launch of “Suntory 21” and “Suntory Reserve Silky”
(another version of “Suntory Reserve”), which aimed to “integrate
young people’s drinking style of freely enjoying various alcoholic
drinks that suit their preferences of the moment at an
establishment with a bright image” (interview with Mr. Seki).
• 1984: The launch of “Yamazaki,” a single malt whisky.6
• 1985: The launch of “ELK,” a whisky derived from rye and aged in
white oak casks. “ELK” was the first rye-based whisky to be
produced and sold by Suntory (Nihon Keizai Shimbun, Feb. 6,
1985).
• 1985: The launch of “pure malt whisky 7 Years Old,” which had
malt as its only ingredient. Most whiskies on the market are
made from a mixture of malt and grain component whiskies.
• 1985: The launch of “COBRA,” a low-priced corn-based whisky
targeted at young men.

The single malt whisky “Yamazaki” was created by Mr. Keizo Saji,
chief blender at the time, who was trying to develop a single malt

6 When it was launched, Yamazaki was called a pure malt whisky. As the
term single malt whisky was not in general use in Japan at that time, the
word “pure” was used to mean 100% malt whisky.
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 The birth of Japanese whisky

whisky that long-aged malt component whiskies claimed, aiming for

a Japanese elegance different from Scotch’s single malt.
In 1989, “Hibiki,” a blended whisky, was launched on the occasion
of Suntory’s 90th anniversary since its founding. When he developed
“Yamazaki,” Mr. Saji, who then was the master blender and who felt
the need to tweak Suntory’s whisky-making techniques, decided two
years before the 90th anniversary to develop “a blended whisky that
would embody Suntory’s best technology.” Mr. Koichi Inatomi, who
had become the company’s chief blender, took on this
mandate. From more than one million casks of component whiskies
in Suntory’s Yamazaki and Hakushu Distilleries, he developed
“Hibiki” by sampling malts that had been aged long enough to create
a masterpiece and determining the flavor by going through tasting
after tasting. Furthermore, while “Hibiki” was being developed, he
remodeled the Yamazaki Distillery so that the attributes of the malt
component whiskies could be enriched and the flavor variations
could be broadened. This led to the introduction of wooden bucket
fermentation and open fire distillation at the Yamazaki Distillery,
techniques that had been used at the Hakushu Distillery since 1981
and had contributed to an improvement in the quality of the malt
component whiskies at that distillery. The making of a whisky with a
broad range of attributes that brought together component whiskies
with various features developed over a long period of time through
such an insatiable spirit of inquiry, then vatting and blending them,
enhanced the quality of Suntory’s products (interview with Mr. Seki).

Conclusion
This paper focused on Suntory Spirits and its international
award-winning whiskies were researched and developed in the 1980s,
when Japanese domestic shipments of whisky were in
decline. During this difficult period, when the company was dealing
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 Mitomi, Suh, and Sato

with diversifying consumer needs, it invested in its distilleries and

developed component whiskies with a variety of attributes, which it
then was able to vat and blend to create high-quality whiskies
possessing a broad range of attributes. Although the corporate scale
is different, this brings to mind resource-based venturing in the case
of Venture Whisky Ltd., which was founded in 2004 as a Japanese
born-global company and started exporting whisky in 2006. This
company got its start with 400 casks of whisky that had passed into
other hands (Suh, Mitomi, & Sato, 2019). The existence of whisky as
a resource is a key success factor shared by the whisky industry,
where a long aging period is necessary.

Acknowledgments
This work was supported by JSPS Grant-in-Aid for Publication of
Scientific Research Results, Grant Number JP16HP2004.

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