Hey, I’m Casey. Thanks for reading our newsletter, sharing the startup journey of Kamui Whisky K.K. We’ve been busy, but when we aren’t overwhelmed, we’ll share a story as we craft up a whisky distillery on a remote, volcanic island in the most northern part of Japan.
The team has come back together. After a few months off, with the distillery closed for the winter, we’ve come back from different parts of Japan, and the world. In Rishiri, ready to go.
2023 will be our first full year of distilling.
Last year was a determined rush to get everything set up, get our license, begin distilling, and deliver our first 神居原酒 to the Tokyo Whisky Fes.
The Difference in A Month
This is what Rishiri looks like in winter:
![](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F89c0da7c-930e-4269-a91b-61cdf6a2a04b_4032x3024.jpeg)
![](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F06c533dd-a7f8-47c7-a0d6-dff683a48b0a_1108x1477.jpeg)
![](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F13b387f3-2345-4b09-bc17-b4ee3bfb49ec_4032x3024.jpeg)
![](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6fd45633-b8fa-4451-886d-384999b7db1e_4032x3024.jpeg)
The pictures above were all from mid- February.
A month later, in mid-March, this is how Kamui Whisky K.K. looks:
![](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F64b21789-dd38-417f-92f6-fcaa0e06ef79_4032x3024.jpeg)
Restarting the Distillery
We had drained all the water from the pipes (because they would burst in the winter freeze), turned off and disassembled the boiler.
As always we had a moment of drama. We were told it would take weeks to get the boiler re-started and ready to work. Not the days we had expected. Weeks would knock of valuable, valuable time from our distilling schedule.
Luckily, Shiraita-san, Kamui’s magician worked his magic:
Look at this quick step:
Our Head Distiller, Javier, looking after, and into, all the details.
It is starting to smell really, really good in the warehouse. The smell of the whisky aging is sublime.
![](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F34cbfa5e-c0d6-47e0-a7a5-c04155a5b288_3024x4032.jpeg)
Our Distilling Targets for 2023
This, our first full-year of distilling, we are targeting to produce:
8640L
which is: 36 barrels + 1200L of 神居原酒
Of course, every batch, every barrel will be made with love and care. We are crafting all of our whisky with the deep love of Rishiri. Rishiri in a bottle.
It’s not a lot of whisky though. We’ll be one of the smallest, craft-est distilleries in Japan. Already we are experiencing overwhelming demand, way above the small amount we can produce. We need to make more whisky here at Kamui.
If the team achieves the distillation targets we’ll be heading from our island, on a company trip to another island, Hawaii.
Here’s to hoping we achieve our target. We’re confident we’ll make extremely good whisky. Now we have to dramatically increase production so that more and more people will be able to experience the special spirit that is Rishiri Whisky.
Really happy to read about the team getting back together and getting the barreling going again. Looking forwards to visiting soon 🥃