Togouchi and Sakurao

Sakurao Brewery and Distillery is a Hiroshima company founded in 1918 in the town of Sakurao, in Hatsukaichi. It makes whisky under two names: Sakurao, for whisky matured near its distillery on the Seto Inland Sea, and Togouchi, for whisky matured in a disused railway tunnel at Togouchi, up in the Chugoku Mountains. The same spirit ageing in sea air and in a cold, damp tunnel turns out very differently, and that contrast is the idea behind the two brands.

Togouchi is older than the distillery, and that matters when buying it. The company only began distilling in 2017, and earlier Togouchi blends were made from imported whisky, reported as Scotch malt and Canadian grain. Sakurao now says its Togouchi blends are made from malt and grain whisky distilled and aged at its own distillery, in line with the new Japanese whisky rules. Older bottles are a different matter: a Togouchi 15 Year Old cannot have come from a distillery that opened in 2017.

The company was founded in 1918. It built its distillery in 2017 after studying distilleries overseas, marked its 100th anniversary in 2018 by launching Sakurao Gin, which uses Hiroshima citrus and local juniper, and released its first single malts under the Sakurao and Togouchi names in 2021.