Food and drink
Suntory サントリー
Japan's first whisky distillery
Shinjirō Torii opened a wine shop in Osaka in 1899 and made his name with a sweet port wine. In 1923 he built Yamazaki, the first malt whisky distillery in Japan, starting the Japanese whisky industry.
- Founded
- 1899
- Meiji 32
- Founder
- Shinjirō Torii
- Started in
- Osaka
- Status
- Still trading
- Age 127 years
Timeline
-
1899 (Meiji 32)
Torii Shōten opens in Osaka, selling wine.
-
1907 (Meiji 40)
Launches Akadama Port Wine, a big hit.
-
1923 (Taishō 12)
Builds the Yamazaki distillery near Kyoto, with Masataka Taketsuru as distiller.
-
1929 (Shōwa 4)
Releases Shirofuda, the first Japanese whisky.
-
2014 (Heisei 26)
Buys Beam, the maker of Jim Beam bourbon.
Years in brackets are the Japanese era year. Japanese era converter →
Did you know?
Taketsuru, who had studied whisky making in Scotland, later left to found the rival company Nikka.
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Dates follow the companies' own published histories where available. Trademarks belong to their owners; this page is not affiliated with any company listed.