At the foot of Mount Fuji, Kirin's Fuji Gotemba Distillery has been making whisky since 1973. Its location brings a cool highland climate, persistent mountain fog and the influence of the forests surrounding Japan's most recognisable peak.
What distinguishes Fuji Gotemba, however, is not simply its setting. The distillery produces both malt and grain whisky at a single site, drawing on techniques associated with Scotch, American and Canadian whisky production and bringing them together through a distinctly Japanese approach to blending and detail.
The resulting Fuji range is built around three expressions: Single Malt, Single Grain and Single Blended, extending from the core collection into limited anniversary releases and exceptionally aged whisky.
Fuji Gotemba Distillery
Fuji Gotemba was established in 1973 in Gotemba, Shizuoka, at the foot of Mount Fuji.
The surrounding environment is cool and humid, with an average annual temperature of around 13°C and frequent fog throughout the year. These conditions form part of the maturation environment for the whisky produced there.
From the beginning, the distillery was designed with a broad production capability. Rather than specialising solely in malt whisky, Fuji Gotemba can produce both malt and multiple styles of grain whisky, giving its blending team unusual control over the components used across the Fuji range.
Fuji Single Grain
Grain whisky is one of Fuji Gotemba's particular strengths.
The distillery produces different styles of grain spirit using techniques influenced by American, Canadian and Scotch whisky traditions, allowing the blending team to work across varying levels of weight, fruit character and texture.
Fuji Single Grain Japanese Whisky brings those components together in a polished, fruit-led house style, while limited and long-aged releases reveal how far the distillery's grain whisky can develop with time.
The collection includes the Fuji 50th Anniversary Single Grain alongside the exceptionally rare Fuji Single Grain 30 Year Old.
Fuji Single Malt
Fuji's Single Malt focuses on the distillery's malt whisky, produced in copper pot stills and matured to retain the fruit-driven, elegant character associated with the house.
Rather than pursuing weight for its own sake, the style is centred on fruit, softness, balance and detail.
Alongside the core Fuji Single Malt Japanese Whisky, the collection includes the 50th Anniversary Single Malt, created to mark five decades of whisky production at Fuji Gotemba.
Fuji Single Blended
Single Blended whisky is one of the most interesting expressions of Fuji Gotemba's production philosophy.
Both the malt and grain whiskies are produced at the same distillery, allowing Fuji to create a blended whisky entirely around spirits made within the one site.
The result brings together the distillery's malt and grain capabilities, with blending used to build texture, balance and layers of flavour rather than allowing one component to dominate.
Explore the core Fuji Single Blended Japanese Whisky, the limited 50th Anniversary Single Blended, and the rare Fuji Single Blended Masterpiece.
50th Anniversary & Rare Fuji Whisky
Fuji Gotemba celebrated 50 years of whisky production in 2023, marked by a series of limited releases across the distillery's three principal styles.
The anniversary collection provides a particularly interesting view of the distillery's history, drawing on mature stocks developed across decades of production.
At the rarer end of the collection sit releases such as Fuji Single Grain 30 Year Old and Fuji Single Blended Masterpiece, representing the depth of aged malt and grain whisky held at Gotemba and the distillery's long-standing emphasis on blending.
Japanese Craft & the Art of Blending
Fuji describes its approach through the Japanese idea “kami wa saibu ni yadoru”, loosely expressed as “the divine resides in the details”.
It is an appropriate philosophy for a distillery where the breadth of whisky production is matched by an emphasis on precision. Different distillation methods, spirit styles and aged components become the raw material for the blender, with the final whisky determined by how those individual elements work together.
That philosophy runs through the Fuji range, from its accessible Single Grain, Single Malt and Single Blended whiskies to the distillery's oldest and most limited releases.
Shop Kirin Fuji Japanese Whisky at Kent Street Cellars
Explore Kirin Fuji Japanese Whisky from the Fuji Gotemba Distillery, including Single Malt, Single Grain and Single Blended expressions, 50th Anniversary releases and rare aged whisky.
Delivery is available Australia-wide, with same-day delivery also available across eligible Sydney metropolitan areas.
