More than 50 bird species live in the distillery's woods, counted every year by the staff.
The distillery stands in a forest at the foot of the Southern Alps, near the Ojira-gawa gorge, one of the ‘hundred purest watercourses in Japan’: it is that snowmelt water, filtered through the rock, that defines Hakushū whisky. The route passes the copper stills and the ageing warehouse before the tasting; the ‘bird sanctuary’ in the distillery's woods records more than fifty species every year.
Opened in 1973 by Suntory as the group's second malt distillery after Yamazaki, in the municipality of Hokuto.
ℹ️ 9:30–16:30 (last entry 16:00), closed at the year end/New Year and on the factory's rest days. Paid guided tour (3,000 yen, about 90 minutes, with tasting), booking required; free entry and free mini-tour available without tasting. Minimum age 20 for tours with tasting. 25 minutes by car from JR Kobuchisawa Station, or paid shuttle at weekends.
🚉 松原上 · 8 min walk
Holidays in Japan? Plan them with us.Over 2,000 real places, a day-by-day itinerary.FreeOpen the map →Sources: rurubu.jp · hokuto-kanko.jp