The birth of <i>Japanese whisky</i>

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.