Masataka Taketsuru
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Masataka Taketsuru (竹鶴政孝 Taketsuru Masataka) founded Japan's whisky industry. He was born in 1894 in Takehara, Hiroshima to a family that had owned a sake brewery since 1733.
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[edit] Experiences in Scotland
In 1919 he took summer classes in organic chemistry at the University of Glasgow in Scotland. He studied under Thomas Stewart Patterson, the Gardiner Chair of Chemistry.
He also worked at a number of Scottish distilleries. In 1920, he married Jessie Roberta "Rita" Cowan of Middlecroft, Kirkintilloch, despite opposition from both their families. Initially, they lived in Campbeltown and Taketsuru worked at Hazelburn distillery.
[edit] Return to Japan
Taketsuru then returned to Japan and worked at Kotobukiya, where he helped to establish a whiskey distillery. Kotobukiya was owned by Shinjiro Torrii, a wine producer, and would eventually become part of Suntory.
In 1934, he founded his own distilling company, Dai Nippon Kaju K.K., in Yoichi on the northern Japanese island of Hokkaidō. He believed that this part of Japan was the most similar to Scotland. He later renamed the company to Nikka. Nikka whiskey was first sold in October 1940.
[edit] Nikka Whisky Distilling Company, and Nikka whisky
The Nikka Whisky Distilling Company is now part of Asahi Breweries. Nikka whisky is sold both as a blended whisky, and as a single malt. It is available in 10, 12 and 15 year old vintages.
