Ao Vodka

About Ao Vodka

In February 1899, Shinjiro Torii opened a store in Osaka, Japan that traded in imported wines. Within a decade, Torii began producing his own sweet grape wine called Akadama Port Wine, which became wildly popular throughout the country. In 1923, Torri — fascinated by whisky his entire life — decided to expand his business and began construction of the Yamazaki Distillery, Japan’s first-ever whisky distillery.

Although inspired by traditional Scottish distilleries, Torii envisioned a uniquely Japanese approach to whisky and chose a location for his distillery that offered a climate and terrain that were completely different than those of Scotland. Nestled on the periphery of Kyoto, Yamazaki Distillery is situated at the confluence of three rivers (the Katsura, Uji, and Kizu) that provide the warm, damp environment ideal for the production and maturation of whisky.

Fifty years after the construction of Yamazaki Distillery, Keizo Saji inherited his father’s vision and constructed Suntory’s second distillery. Situated amidst the deep forests of Mount Kaikomagatake in Japan’s southern Alps, the Hakushu Distillery enjoys a unique microclimate as a result of being surrounded by nearly 6,000 varieties of plants and thousand-year-old granite rocks.

While Suntory is known throughout the world for its remarkable whisky, the company has recently adopted its signature approach of “simplicity, refinement, and subtle complexity” to an altogether new spirit for the distillery: vodka.