Our Home Opener
On June 23rd we threw an Opening Party on the cliffs in front of our distillery. Nearly the whole island came out. Fireworks and everything.
Hey, I’m Casey. Welcome to 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, frozen, volcanic island in the most northern part of Japan.
We are trying to build a special, lasting, generational whisky business in Rishiri. Distilling to get the special atmosphere of Rishiri, the terroir, into a bottle.
It’s not been easy building a business on our remote, windswept, often very cold island. But, with the help of many, many people in the community we have come far. Now we are distilling consistently, winning awards1.
These feelings coalesced into the desire to throw an Opening Party for the town.
Our Local Opener
On June 23rd, we had the public, Rishiri opening of Kamui Whisky K.K..
After months of planning2, we had the whole town3 in our parking lot for a special festival and firework show. It was the first time our 神居原酒4 was available, in enough quantity, that everyone who wanted, could, have a tasting. We also had giveaway of 100 bottles of 神居原酒.
Seen for Miles
For a while, we’ve wanted to put our “Kamui” name, which is also our address, on the side of our warehouse.
Fortuitously, the painting of, which certainly be our iconic, sign happened the same morning of the festival. Azuma-san was out at 6am prepping the signage for painting.
Now you’ll be able to see our distinctive “Kamui” from a long ways away.
The Kids
We wanted to take care of and entertain the kids too, not just the adults. Our festival would be a festival for whole families.
A National Broadcast
NHK, Japan’s national broadcaster, covered our Opening Party. The story was deemed so interesting, with the initial, local coverage of it receiving such a strong response that it was re-broadcast across all Japan.
The full article is here: https://www.nhk.or.jp/hokkaido/articles/slug-n20eaabbc440c
A Real Party
We had music right on the cliffs of the ocean. Our team had organized several singer and song-writers to perform throughout the day.
The original “Rishiri” song stimulated some mood-making dancing.
The Fireworks
We commissioned fireworks for our event. It was the first private firework display on Rishiri. A great team from Yokohama came, at a reasonable cost5, and put on a display that people will remember.
It’s the first time I’ve ever had tears come to my eyes while watching fireworks.
We’d been through so much to get to this point.
The Cleanup
You can’t throw a good party without having a lot to clean up. And because our purpose is beyond just our own company, rather for making Rishiri even better, the team went out and canvassed the neighborhood fishing port, picking up long forgotten trash. It’s surprising how much washed up trash we found written in Russian and Hangul6.
We’ll be Back Next Year
The plan is to make this festival, and the fireworks7, a yearly event.
Next year, around the same time, June 23rd, we’ll throw the 2nd Kamui Whisky K.K. Festival. We’ll build on what we’ve established and look to make things even more fun and interesting.
Put it on your calendars.
https://tokyowhiskyspiritscompetition.jp
We had a lot of support from the local Rishiricho town office. Special thanks to Takeguchi-san! 🙏
Pretty much everyone who is mobile.
Our un-aged whisky.
Thank you!!
Korean
This year’s fireworks lasted for 8 minutes. Hopefully, next year, we’ll have more budget and can have them extend longer. 9 minutes? 10??? 🤪🤪🤪