日本一、いや世界でも有数の美しいローケーションに建設された蒸溜所と言っても決して言い過ぎではないだろう。蒸溜所の庭から、名もない小さな川を渡り、砂地に枕木をのせただけの階段を駆け上がると、そこには50kmほど続く圧巻の白砂の浜が現れる。日本三大砂丘のその吹上浜には、青ウミガメも産卵に訪れる自然豊かな環境が開発から逃れ保たれていた。まさにお日様を置いたような夕陽（サンセット）が観られることから付いた地名が「日置（ひおき）」なのだという。美しく赤い光に照らされたメロウな潮風が、蒸溜所の熟成庫まで運ばれてくるのだ。

　そんな環境で育ったぼっけもんが、新星のごとくウイスキーの世界に現れた。2018年8月弱冠40歳で小正醸造社長に就任した4代目小正芳嗣（こまさ よしつぐ）氏その人である。高校時代はラグビーで土にまみれ、東京農大進学後はアメフットに転向。諦めず、常に前進しようとする強靭な精神力や体力とは裏腹に、決して猪突猛進では無く、常に周りの状況を精査し、立場の違う人の意見にも真摯に耳を傾ける。大胆にして繊細な薩摩隼人なのだ。

現在国内外で問題となっている“なんちゃってジャパニーズウイスキー”。つまりは出自が明らかにされていない調達原酒を瓶詰めし、ジャパニーズウイスキーと表記したり、原酒混和率が10％程度のウイスキー風スピリッツもジャパニーズウイスキーとして大量に販売されている。これは酒税法の規制が緩すぎて、何でもありになっている為だ。酒税法には触れていないものの、景表法には引っかかりそうな案件が続々と出てきている。一方で、焼酎の酒税法はどうだろう。樽熟成で得られたせっかくの琥珀色も、規制値（吸光度0.08以下）を超えると濾過して色抜きせねばならず、樽の成分が溶出して変性した熟成香等も、一定量を超えると除去しなくてはならなくなる。自らが60年以上に渡り経験を積み重ねてきたオーク樽熟成に対する経験や技術を「焼酎」の分野で出そうとすれば、いつも何かを削り、減らさねばならない。芳嗣氏はついに決断の時を迎えた。自分たちの経験をバックグラウンドにした技術や感性を、「“ウイスキー”という自由なキャンバスで思う存分表現するぞ！」

 ウイスキー製造の傍ら、寝る暇も惜しんで国内外を走り回る元アスリートに、2018年秋、さらに強力な助っ人が現れた。鹿児島生まれ京都育ちで、某有名国内蒸溜所で12年にわたりウイスキー製造に携わった農大の後輩女史が、生まれ故郷の鹿児島に向かった際に、嘉之助蒸溜所を訪れたのだった。大学時代から色んなお酒を嗜む（研究する）彼女は、小正醸造の焼酎である“蔵の師魂”の愛飲者でもあった。それを作る焼酎蔵の御曹司が、農大の先輩にいたのだ。十数年前に、その尊敬する先輩を遠くから見ていたのだと彼女は言う。

　大手では、なかなか自分のやりたいことは叶わない、表現も限られる。もっと自由にウイスキー作りをしたい！嘉之助蒸溜所の東シナ海が一望できる一枚板のカウンターの椅子に深く身を委ね、まだ熟成の途にあるの嘉之助の原酒を口に含んだ途端、彼女の全身に電気が走った。長い沈黙の後、目を合わさず、前に立つ薩摩隼人に告げた。「...ここで、...一緒にウイスキーを作らせてください。」

　　大学で酵母の研究をしていたという彼女の提案は、すでに醗酵工程等に色々活かされている。前職では品質に関わる原料分析から、製造過程の検査の仕事にも携わった知見も嘉之助モルトの仕上がりに大きな成果をあげそうだ。

　チームのベクトルをまとめ上げる、はんなりとした気品漂う才女でもある。製造現場以外にも、ワインの販売、百貨店での販促、結婚披露宴の演出など様々な仕事を経験してきたマルチな才能が、嘉之助プロジェクトに花を咲かせていくだろう。

　芳嗣氏の祖父にあたる2代目小正醸造社長の嘉之助翁が、将来を見据えて手に入れたのがこの吹上浜を見下ろす広大な土地だった。メローコヅルの里と命名された嘉之助翁の構想は、多くの人が訪れる憩いの場所とすることだった。その想いを受けて、孫の芳嗣氏は、蒸溜所の設計時に、ビジターセンターを併設することを決めた。蒸溜所の操業開始は2017年11月。そして2018年4月には早々にビジターセンターをオープンし、ディスティラリーツアーをスタートさせた。ウイスキー愛好家やウイスキーにそれほど興味のない人達も訪れて後悔することはないだろう。やがて熟成を重ねた嘉之助モルトウイスキーを、恐らくは日本一長く重厚なバーカウンタに座り一献を傾ける。壁一面のピクチャーウインドー越しに、東シナ海に沈む線香花火のようなサンセットを眺めながら、生きている有り難さを実感することだろう。

　愛好家を代表して、小正芳嗣氏に感謝の意を表したい。

「よくぞこんなにも美しい蒸溜所を作って下さった。」と、、、。

（2018年　6月寄稿　CLAUDE WHISKY　井上祐伺）

It is not an exaggeration to say that this distillery stands in one of the most beautiful locations in Japan, or even in the world. Crossing a nameless stream from its yard, and going up a flight of stairs that are made of sleepers placed on the sand, you will find a spectacular white sand beach that stretches for about 50km. This beach, known as one of the three major dunes in Japan called “Fukiage-hama,” offers a spawning ground for green turtles, preserving its affluent natural environment intact from development. This area is named “Hioki (meaning to set the sun)” after its beautiful sunset that looks as if it were placed in the perfect position. Illuminated by the red beautiful sunset, the pleasant sea breeze reaches the distillery's maturation facility.

Brought up in this exceptional environment, one fearless man emerged in the world of Japanese whisky; Mr. Yoshitsugu Komasa became the fourth-generation president of Komasa Jyozo Co., Ltd. in August 2018 at the age of just 40. He is a man of fortitude with a strong drive to move forward. His strong personality and physical strength was fostered through his schooldays. Dedicating himself to rugby in high school, he entered Tokyo University of Agriculture where he was absorbed in American football. In contrast to an aggressive image of rugby or American football players, he always observes the situation very carefully and sincerely listens to the opinions of people in different positions. He is a bold yet insightful man with a spirit of “Satsuma Hayato (Samurai warriors indigenous to the Kagoshima Area).”

In 2018, Komasa Jyozo celebrated its 135th year anniversary. Since 1957, the company has long been selling their popular shochu, “Mellowed Kozuru” that is characterized by its maturation process using oak casks. After joining the company in 2003, Yoshitsugu has been leveraging his expertise as a researcher from the Graduate School of Tokyo University of Agriculture in various product development projects. Meanwhile, his friendly personality has helped him expand sales channels for his company not only in Japan but also in dozens of countries overseas. It was around that time when the company was contacted by a buyer based in Scotland, the home of whisky. They praised the flavor and taste of Mellowed Kozuru, and expressed their intention to sell the product over there. However, he didn’t hear anything from them during the following few weeks. Feeling anxious, Yoshitsugu contacted them but only to find that they had decided not to place orders for the product due to the unpopularity of the “shochu” category in the local market. Even though his pride was devastatingly shattered, this marked a significant turning point as he gained back his confidence about his company’s expertise to manufacture quality alcoholic products through the highly acclaimed Mellowed Kozuru. 

Lately, we find a lot of self-claimed, faux Japanese whisky in and outside Japan. These products are made from whisky whose origin cannot be verified but are labeled as Japanese whisky. In addition, a large volume of spirits sold as Japanese whisky contain only about 10% of whisky. This is because the current Liquor Tax Act in Japan is too lenient so any product can be sold as Japanese whisky. Meanwhile, there have been a large number of cases that comply with the Liquor Tax Act but might violate the Act against Unjustifiable Premiums and Misleading Representations. Then, how about shochu? The Liquor Tax Act requires distilleries to filter out the amber color obtained through the maturation process if the liquor exceeds the standard absorbance value of 0.08 or less. Also, they must remove the mature aroma eluted from maturation casks if it exceeds a certain amount. In order to take advantage of the expertise and skills for the oak cask maturation developed internally during the last 60 years, the distillery would always have to cut back or reduce something. Yoshitsugu finally reached a decision to “exert the expertise and ingenuity based on their own experience on the canvas of “whisky” that has fewer restrictions.”

Initially, I speculated that his company might have entered the booming whisky business due to its sluggish shochu sales. However, the company has been manufacturing shochu at their full capacity. In an attempt to bring out everything the company had acquired and accumulated, Yoshitsugu started to draw a blueprint for its new whisky business based on elaborate calculation.

Komasa Jyozo owns 7 pot stills including wood ones that are currently in operation at its shochu production facility. In selecting the pot stills for the Kanosuke Distillery, he put into practice a lot of ideas based on his own experience. Its distillation system consists of three pot stills, which is quite a rare system for domestic distilleries. The capacities of each pot still in the photo are 6,000 liters, 3,000 liters, and 1,600 liters from the left. Their lyne arms are set horizontal, downward and upward respectively. The middle and the right ones are spirit stills (SS1 and SS2), which allows the distillery to develop a wide range of combinations and produce various types of new pots. These pot stills adopt a cooling coil system. As for the malt used for the whisky production, the distillery not only imports it from Scotland but also procures it readily from local farmers as they cultivate barley as aftercrop in addition to sweet potatoes that are used for local shochu products. 

This 3-pot still-system was made possible thanks to the dedication and support of two excellent technicians who had been engaged in the shochu making together with Yoshitsugu: Mr. Biro and Mr. Omuta. In 2016, Yoshitsugu, then Managing Director of the company and these two fellows visited around local distilleries in Scotland that were similar in size to the Kanosuke Distillery. They also joined local whisky manufacturing training as well. At night, they passionately debated on various topics and talked about their dream while enjoying tasting whisky.

Around this time, they were working on a lot of paperwork to acquire a whisky manufacturing license in Japan but it took them as much as 3 years to complete this process. Working until late every night, these two technicians made tireless efforts to realize their dream. Yoshitsugu recalls that they were the essential contributors to the success of the distillery project as well as the 3-pot still system.

Despite his bustling schedule, he traveled around Japan and abroad while producing whisky, and this tenacious former athlete found another amazing talent in the fall of 2018; The Kanosuke Distillery was visited by a lady who had 12 years of experience engaged in the whisky production at a major domestic distillery. Born in Kagoshima and brought up in Kyoto, she was on her way back to her home town in Kagoshima. She is also an alumna of Tokyo University of Agriculture. Being a connoisseur of alcoholic drinks since her college days, she has been a big fan of “Kurano-shikon,” one of the signature products of Komasa Jyozo, and one of her seniors at the university happened to be the next generation owner of this distillery. She remembers looking at him with respect from afar on campus more than a decade ago.

In her previous workplace at a major company, she was facing a limitation in making trials and unique approaches. Therefore, she was looking for an opportunity to produce whisky more freely. During her visit to the Kanosuke Distillery, she took a seat at the counter made of solid timber where she had a panoramic view of the East China Sea. As soon as she took a sip of Kanosuke that was still in the maturation process, she felt as if she had been struck by lightning. Left in awe, she asked him after a long silence, “Allow me to make whisky with you.”

Since she joined the company, she has made various proposals, based on her study on yeasts in university, that have already been incorporated into many areas of the production processes including fermentation. Leveraging her knowledge and expertise gained through the previous jobs, such as ingredients analyses related to product quality and inspections of production processes, she will be a great contributor for assuring the quality of the Kanosuke Malt.

With her gentle and graceful disposition, she has the ability to exercise leadership and set a direction for the entire team. She has a great track record in various fields other than the whisky production: the sales of wine, sales promotion at a department store, directing wedding receptions, etc. I am certain that her multiple talents will continue to bring out amazing success in future Kanosuke projects.

At the maturation process, the highlight of the whisky making, the Kanosuke Distillery can fully leverage the data accumulated at Komasa Jyozo for more than 60 years. They have been using various types of casks one after another, such as bourbon, sherry, and those utilized to mature a shochu product, “Mellowed Kozuru.” The spirit matured in these shochu casks will be released as a newborn product. Actually, these shochu casks were transferred back to a cooperage to be disassembled, and rebuilt once again only using the materials that remained in good conditions. In addition, the inside of the casks was medium charred again for 40 seconds in order to use them for the maturation of the Kanosuke New Make Spirit. In the near future, the distillery will build its own cooperage within its premises for the purpose of making the above-mentioned work in-house. Yoshitsugu has been bound to restrictions imposed in the shochu category, making it difficult for him to exert his true ability. However, we are now very much looking forward to seeing how he will express his own styles on the canvas of whisky.

Mr. Kanosuke Komasa, Yoshitsugu’s grandfather and the 2nd generation owner of Komasa Jyozo, acquired a spacious land that overlooks the Fukiage-hama beach for his future business. Naming this place the “Village of Mellowed Kozuru,” he wanted to make a place of rest and relaxation for many people visiting this area. Inheriting his will and aspiration, Yoshitsugu, his grandson, decided to build a visitor center next to the new distillery. He opened this visitor center and initiated a distillery tour program in April 2018, followed by the opening of the distillery in November 2017. This is a place worth a visit not just for whisky lovers but for everybody. In the near future, visitors will be able to enjoy the fully matured Kanosuke whisky, sitting around the presumably longest and robust bar counter in Japan. They will appreciate the beautiful sunset falling into the East China Sea through the picture window, feeling grateful for their lives and the opportunity to be able to enjoy this special moment.

On behalf of whisky enthusiasts, I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to Mr. Yoshitsugu Komasa for making such a beautiful distillery like this.

(Contributed in June 2018 by Yuji Inoue, CLAUDE WHISKY)