Gaia Flow Shizuoka Distillery
This time, we will be talking about the whiskey distillery ``Gaia Flow Shizuoka Distillery”.
Access
This time I visited by bus.
The journey time from Shizuoka Station is approximately 1 hour.
I participated in the tour starting at 11:00 on weekdays, and I took the Abe Line bound for Kamiochiai from Shizuoka Station at 9:42.
If you get off at the Oku-no-Harakami bus stop, the distillery will be right in front of you.
We arrived around 10:45, and the tour start time (starting at 11:00) was set to coincide with the bus's arrival time.
First, let me explain about the return trip.The end time of the tour is also set to match the bus time.
Tours and tastings end around 1:00 p.m.
On the way back, you need to walk for about 15 minutes to a bus stop called Josuke, not the bus stop where you got off.
The bus heading towards Shizuoka Station departs from there at 13:29, so you will arrive with a little time to spare.
It's about a 15 minute walk, but it's basically downhill so it's not that difficult.
Although it is an unpleasant distance depending on the weather such as rain. .
However, to be honest, the 1 hour bus ride is painful.
I was able to sit down on my way there and back, so it was still good in terms of fatigue, but it was tough not being able to go to the bathroom for about an hour after tasting the food and being so close to the restroom. .
If you decide to get off midway, the next bus may be two hours later, so you'll have to wait at least until you get to the city center where other lines run.
If possible, we recommend visiting by car, such as your own car or rental car.
If you drive there, you won't be able to sample it, but it looks like you can take a small bottle home with you.
Although you can't drink it at the distillery, you can take it home and enjoy it.
reception
Tours require advance reservations, so be sure to make a reservation.
For reservationsOfficial WebsiteYou can do it from
The reception is on the second floor, so you take off your shoes, change into slippers, and go up to the second floor to complete the reception.
The tour fee is 1,100 yen per person.
Credit cards and various types of electronic money could also be used for payment.
Tour begins
Now it's time to start the tour.
under the fermenter
First, you can look under the fermenter.
The fermentation tanks are made of 10 tanks, 4 of which are made of Oregon pine and 6 of which are made of cedar from Shizuoka Prefecture.
I feel like this is the only distillery where you can see the fermentation tanks from below.
The brewing water is sourced from underground water from the Abe-Nakakawachi River, which flows nearby, and is collected from a well on the premises.
crushing
Next is the malt crushing process.
When I entered the room, it stopped working, but I was able to see a little bit of it working.
You can also see samples of husks, grits, flour, etc. after grinding.
The malt mill used in the grinding process is from the former Karuizawa Distillery.
Saccharification
You can watch the saccharification process through the peephole in the mash tun.
I was able to see up close how wheat husks and other particles were settling.
fermentation
You can actually see the fermentation process inside the fermenter and smell the aroma.
I was able to see two types: one in which yeast was working, and one in which fermentation by lactic acid bacteria was taking place.
The one where the yeast is working has a scent similar to sake, and the one with the lactic acid bacteria is the same, but it smells like a lactic acid bacteria drink, and we were able to experience the difference in the fermentation process.
There are fins on the back of the fermenter lid.
Bubbles will come out during the fermentation process, so they told me to turn the fins to cut the bubbles.
It was said that if you forget to turn the fins, the bubbles will overflow.
distillation
This is the long-awaited distillation process.
Gaiaflow Shizuoka Distillery has two first distillation pot stills.
Wood-fired distiller
The first is a wood-fired still.
This is the only place in the world that has an open wood-fired distiller, so it is the only place in the world where you can see the firewood being dumped.
They also said that they are using steam heating as a supplement.
The product that was used for the first time is the W series.
The name W comes from Woodfired, which means wood fire.
Pot stills of the former Karuizawa Distillery
The second is a pot still from the former Karuizawa Distillery.
It looks like he got it by winning an auction.
From the original four pot stills, only the parts in good condition were carefully selected and reassembled into one.
The product that was used for the first time is K.
K comes from Karuizawa Distillery.
Also, the S series uses both W and K, and S is the distillery's house style.
middle cut
The first alcohol that comes out after distillation begins has a light taste and tends to have a high alcohol content.
Sake that comes out towards the end tends to have a heavy taste and low alcohol content.
Since the beginning and end contain some off-flavors, a method called middle cut is used in which these are cut out and only the middle part is used.
You can smell the aroma of this unprocessed sake before it is cut into the middle.
The unprocessed sake that has been adopted as a middle cut is called a heart, and today there was a quiz asking where the heart begins.
Starting from the left, these are the unprocessed sake that comes out at the beginning of distillation.
On the far left, you can see that the first unprocessed sake that comes out is cloudy.
From next to it, the color becomes clear, but when I smelled the scent, I felt it had a slightly rough taste.
I thought that after the middle, it started to smell like New Pot that you drink at whiskey events, etc., so I answered that it was the middle, but the correct answer was to use the area to the right of that (second from the right) as the heart.
Although time is used as a guideline, the final judgment is based on the human sense of smell.
I didn't notice a big difference between the middle one and the one to the right, but from the creator's point of view, there must be some kind of difference, and I think this difference is important.
Aging warehouse
At the end of the tour, we will head to the aging cellar.
The aging room is large, so rather than being filled with the scent of alcohol or whiskey, I got the impression that it had a faint vanilla-like scent.
This time I visited in winter, but I might have had a different impression if I had visited in summer.
There is no air conditioning in the aging room, and temperature changes are left to nature.
The outside temperature is around 30 degrees Celsius in summer, and in winter it doesn't get below freezing and it doesn't snow.
The biggest feature of the aging warehouse is that it has a skylight.
It was so bright during the day that I didn't need electricity.
I was told that it is designed to have large temperature changes in order to promote ripening.
The Angel's share of interest is 5% to 6% per year for the 200L size, and about 15% per year for the Octave size (50L) used in Owner's Cask.
Tasting
After the tour, you can have a tasting.
There is usually a charge for tastings.
As for the lineup, you can enjoy all the past releases of Gaia Flow Shizuoka Distillery.
You could say it's exclusive to the distillery, but there are 4 types of brands that can only be drunk here: 2 types of new make and 2 types of private cask samples.
Prices range from 300 yen to 1,000 yen, which is cheaper than drinking at a bar.
They also have distributors for Blackadder and Astamoris, so I was told that I could sample some of those brands as well.
The tour itself ends around 12:00, and there is a one-hour time limit for tasting until around 13:00, but there is no limit to the number of drinks.
Please use it as a tasting only.
new make
First of all, I received two types of new makeup.
W (left) was plump and felt a little salty.
K (right) had a lighter impression than W, and had an orange-ish fruity impression.
cask sample
Next, we received two types of cask samples.
K (left) had a woody and vanilla scent, a vanilla and wax-like coating on the taste, and a nutty aftertaste.
S (right) had a strong impression of orange in its aroma and taste, with a hint of vanilla in the aftertaste.
Domestic production
Lastly, we had W and K, which are made with domestic barley.
W (left) gave me the impression that vanilla was at full throttle.
K (right) had a clean, or rather light, impression, and although it didn't have a specific fruitiness, it had an overall fruity impression.
Takeaway for drivers
When visiting by car, the driver will of course not be able to sample the wine.
As I touched on briefly at the beginning, there was a consideration for drivers to be able to take a small bottle home with them, although there was a charge for the container in addition to the tasting fee.
I visited by public transportation, so I did not use it this time.
shop
There is also a shop attached, where you can purchase whiskey and goods.
There were a number of Fables, Blackadders, Astamoris, Amruts and Highland Queens on display, all of which were agents.
The distillery sold a 700ml version of Contact S and a 500ml version of Blended M.
Other goods such as T-shirts and glasses were also on sale.
If you participate in the tour, you can receive a 555 yen discount on tickets.
Tickets cannot be used unless you purchase bottles and goods worth 3,000 yen or more.
I already have the Contact S and Blended M, and I just bought something related to Blackadder, so I used them to purchase goods this time.
Purchased product introduction
This time I bought glasses and coasters.
Glasses cost 2,200 yen and coasters cost 800 yen, so the ticket discount was applied for just 3,000 yen.
glass
The Gaia Flow Shizuoka Distillery logo is printed on the Glencairn.
A neck strap was also included.
coaster
This coaster is made from draff, which is the malt residue from the saccharification process.
Impressions
While many distilleries allow photos but not video or recording, I was surprised at how generous they were in allowing video and posting on social media.
So far, the major ones are Suntory's Hakushu Distillery, the free tour is Yamazaki Distillery, Nikka's Miyagikyo Distillery, Yoichi Distillery,Kirin's Gotemba DistilleryAmong craft distilleries, I visited Honbo Sake Brewery's Mars Komagatake Distillery.
Compared to these six distilleries, the satisfaction level of the tour was high, and I think they were able to show us the details and up close.
However, tours at major distilleries are visited by people who don't drink whiskey at all as sightseeing spots, so there are explanations from scratch for those people, but this tour made me wonder if it would be possible to enjoy it unless you had some knowledge.
I think this was the perfect tour for when you want to learn a little more about manufacturing processes and terminology, and want to go a step deeper, or when you want to see the production site up close.
Local wood is used for the buildings, fermentation tanks, and firewood, and the barley used is domestically produced or produced in Shizuoka Prefecture, and the yeast was developed in Shizuoka Prefecture.I felt that they are working in a way that is rooted in nature and the local area.
Last year in 2023, there were some issues that were seen as a bit of a problem, but there are some delicious releases such as Owner's Cask sold by a liquor store, so I'm looking forward to future releases.
YouTube
I'm also posting it on YouTube!
