Nikka

In 1918 Nikka founder, Masataka Taketsuru, was given the chance to go to Scotland to become the first Japanese ever to master the art of making whisky. He took chemistry courses at the University of Glasgow and apprenticed at three Scotch distilleries (Longmorn, Hazelburn & the Bo'ness grain distillery) before returning to Japan with a Scottish wife in tow. In 1923, Masataka was hired by Kotobukiya (Suntory) to direct building the Yamazaki Distillery and produce the first Japanese Whisky. In 1934 he left Yamazaki to build his own distillery in the northern part of Japan (where the conditions were similar to Scotland). Initially the distillery produced fruit juice under the name Nikka and by the time the whisky was ready for market, the name was already famous so it was adopted by the whisky as well. In 1969, a second distillery, Miyagikyo, was completed. It was built to prioduce whisky that was disfferent that the Yoichi distillery.