Japan's first eau-de-vie to be born.
The mitosaya distillery finally gets underway!
<Part 1>

Creating a uniquely Japanese eau-de-vie!Up-and-coming distiller Hiroshi Eguchi has been working on the mitosaya herb garden distillery since 2017, and this summer it finally started operations!Here's an early look at the whole story.

writer：Ryoko Kuraishi

The logo is based on the character for 'mi' in the word mitosaya.　Photos by Yasuo Yamaguchi

The mitosaya Yakusoen Distillery is a project that up-and-coming distiller Hiroshi Eguchi has been working on since 2017, with the aim of "creating a uniquely Japanese eau-de-vie".


Using fruits and botanicals from all over Japan, mainly locally grown, and incorporating the essence of Japanese-style fermentation, he is said to be exploring the creation of a botanical brandy that is in tune with the climate of the region.


The initiative was launched in the spring of 2017 in the town of Otaki, Chiba Prefecture.
Mr Hiroshi Eguchi was fascinated by distillation, which "condenses nature and extracts its essence", and trained at the Steelemühle distillery in Germany.
(For more information on his training, see "Studying at a distillery in Germany!Diary" at ).


While deepening his knowledge of spirits under Master Distiller Christoph Keller, he began to think about making botanical brandies using Japanese fruits and plants.

Top left: distillery entrance. Top right: the entrance leads to an oval hall.Bottom left: The distillery, which was originally a toilet, has an industrial atmosphere after the tiles were removed.Bottom right: The wooden fermentation vats give the distillery a strong presence.Photos by Yasuo Yamaguchi

After returning to Japan in 2016, they travelled around the country in search of the ideal location and were fortunate enough to rent a former medicinal herb garden site in Otaki town.


He chose Ootaki because of its geographical advantages in terms of easy links with other production areas and the presence of a medicinal herb garden.
'It's a convenient place to make a uniquely Japanese brandy using domestic fruits and botanicals, and I thought it would be interesting to use the medicinal herbs in the herb garden as an accent.'


Opened in 1987 and closed in 2016, the Otaki Herb Garden is home to more than 500 species of flowers, trees, medicinal plants and Chinese herbs.The Otaki Herb Garden, which opened in 1987 and closed in 2016, was planted with more than 500 species of plants, flowers, trees, medicinal herbs and plants used in Chinese medicine.
In consultation with Ryutaro Inoue of GRAND ROYAL green, Mr Eguchi came up with a vegetation plan to preserve what could be kept, add new botanicals to it and update it without using chemical fertilisers or pesticides.

This is the cellar.The insulation was sprayed on thickly, giving it a mysterious texture that reminds one of a cave.

Now let's take you on a tour of the distillery.


First, we go to the distillery, where a series of operations take place, including preparation, fermentation, distillation, bottling and ageing.
The preparation room is the former exhibition room, where the mashers and fermentation vats are set up.


The main fermentation tank is a huge wooden vat with a capacity of 3,000 litres.
It was provided by Yamaroku Soy Sauce in Shodoshima as part of a project to revive wooden vat craftsmanship.


Mr Eguchi says that while distilleries in Germany focus on the distillation process, the emphasis is on fermentation, which is a uniquely Japanese way of making sake.
'With wooden vats from Shodoshima involved in the fermentation process, I think we can make an eau-de-vie that is uniquely Japanese.


'We're going to start distilling this month (and) because of the season, we're thinking of starting with pears and grapes.
The pears will be provided by a local farmer and the grape casings by a nearby winery.
First of all, we want to join forces with local farmers and growers."

Mr Eguchi's first distillation machine is also here.

The small tank next to it has a capacity of 300 litres.
This one will be used as a fermentation tank for eau-de-vie with fruits from smaller producers and botanicals from the herb garden.


In fact, some farmers in Chiba Prefecture grow tropical fruits such as passion fruit.
For Mr Eguchi, who wants to create a unique eau-de-vie combining various fruits with herbs and botanicals from the herb garden on a small scale and in many varieties, this is the perfect location to enjoy trial and error.
There are endless possibilities hidden in the distillation, distillation time and the combination of fruits and botanicals used as ingredients.


Next, we enter the distillation room with its impressive arched entrance.
In the centre of the room is a 60-litre column still made by KOTHE, a prestigious German distiller from the 1990s.
The distillation process of "adding heat and cooling the vapour" is embodied in the extremely simple shape of the still, which he says he likes.

'You can't install baskets for the "basket method", and it looks like it will take a lot of work as the usability hasn't been updated, but the process of devising each one is fun,' says Eguchi.

Opposite the preparation room is the cellar.
The cellar has a cave-like atmosphere, with glass bottles on the upper level and milk cans on the lower level.
'We wanted to bring out the freshness of the fruit, so we decided to age the fruit in glass bottles and metal cans instead of wooden barrels.


'Glass bottles come in two sizes, 15 or 20 litres.
The smallest milk cans are 50 litres and the largest are 100 litres.
A 60-litre distiller can only produce 15-20 litres at most, so this size is perfect.


The bottling and office space is located at the far end of the building.
The space at the far end is used for bottling and office work. The skylights in the original building were utilised to create a bright space with natural light streaming in from the ceiling.


Beyond the distillery building, there is a tasting room that makes use of the greenhouse as it is, and Mr Eguchi's pride and joy, a botanical garden.
See Part 2 for a guide to this area!


Continued in Part 2.