Mars Shinshu Distillery (Hombo Sake Brewery)

Masataka Taketsuru is known as the parent of domestic whisky. At that time, it was “Kiichiro Iwai” of Settsu Shuzo (the parent of Mars whisky) who entrusted the dawn of authentic Japanese whisky to Mr. Taketsuru who was 24 years old, and sent him to Scotland as the boss.

After returning to Japan, Mr. Taketsuru compiled the results of the whisky training into a “Whisky Report” and submitted it to Mr. Kiichiro Iwai. It is commonly called “Taketsuru Report” or “Taketsuru Note”.

Hombo Shuzo is a sake brewery that mainly makes shochu in Kagoshima, but after obtaining a whisky production license in 1949, he continued to dream of “one day making real whisky that takes advantage of the Japanese climate”.

In 1960, Kiichiro Iwai designed “Taketsuru Note” and established Mars Yamanashi Winery, a factory for wine and whisky production. In order to fully work on whisky making, we searched for a more ideal place, and in 1985 we operated “Mars Shinshu Distillery” in Nagano Prefecture. Surrounded by a beautiful green forest at the foot of Mt. Komagadake in the Central Alps, the distillery is located in the silence of the clear air.

It is an exhibition at the whisky festival in 2019. New products released in Iwai Tradition, Mortage Kosumo, Komagadake Limited 2019 and Spring 2020 were also on display.