Japan, Yamanashi. Distillery operational. Owner: Suntory

Built in 1973 in a subtropical forest, Hakushu quickly doubled its production capacity in 1978 to accommodate 12 pairs of stills. Despite this increase, a second distillery equipped with 12 new pot stills was also built three years later (1981) and baptized Hakushu Higashi (East). The 1980s recession linked to a 1989 tax reform eventually, however, led to the closure of the historic distillery. Hakushu's strength lies in its ability to produce different styles of malt under the same pagoda, from peated malt to unpeated, full-bodied and light malts, enabling the group's master blender to produce blends such as the world-famous Hibiki.Less well known than its illustrious colleague Yamazaki, its malts are nonetheless highly sought-after, particularly its very rare editions matured in ex-sherry casks, such as Hakushu Sherry Cask Edition 2014, and its vintage peated single casks, such as The Cask of Hakushu 1993 and Heavily Peated, Edition 2008.

A limited edition of Hakushu matured in a bourbon cask and released in 2011. Suntory has released many limited editions of Yamazaki and Hakushu to showcase the different facets of its two single malts, generally based on the type of cask used for maturation. For Hakushu, several versions of Heavily Peated and Sherry Cask Hakushu exist. Yamazaki includes versions matured in bourbon casks, puncheons, sherry casks and Mizunara casks, as well as a rare heavily peated version reserved for the Japanese market. Versions for the domestic market are bottled at 48% ABV, versus those for export at 48.2%.