In 1918, Masataka Taketsuru, the son of a Japanese sake-brewing dynasty, sailed to Scotland to study chemistry—and he learned the craft of distilling fine Scotch whisky. Some 89 years later, a blend named after him prised something else from the Scots: the honour of being named best whisky in the world.

Now, 3 years later, Japanese whisky maker Nikka is targeting American customers. In 2007 their 21-year old Taketsuru Pure Malt was named the world’s best blended malt at the prestigious Whisky Magazine awards in Glasgow. Despite years of success in their home Japan, sales have been falling, as consumers have drifted to novel products such as beers made without malt and pre-mixed fruit cocktails. The traditional Japanese whisky drinkers numbers are now only about a fifth of what they were 20 years ago.

Time to move Japanese whisky to overseas markets, especially the premium products. Total U.S. sales of all brands is estimated to be well over $5 billion a year, and Japanese distillers are looking to start cutting into that, as well as potentially lucrative emerging markets for premium whisky such as India, China, and Russia.

(I note that in Japan they spell whisky without the “e”, just as the Scottish do!!!)

To read more, see the original article by KENNETH MAXWELL at WSJ.com

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