Kameda Distillery Visit, Part 4: “Then Why Not Make It Yourself?” — A Family Philosophy, Eels Raised on Distillery Heat and Zodiac Labels (Niigata, Japan)

2026.10.05

In short: why could his wife say, “Then why not make it yourself?” The final part of my Kameda Distillery (Niigata, Japan) series looks at the Ohtani family’s philosophy of “making the most of your one life,” President Douta’s science-driven decision to malt in-house, eels raised with the distillery’s waste heat, employment support for people with disabilities, and the zodiac labels of Ohtani Whisky. By Mika Tanimoto, owner of Bar Little Happiness in Hiroshima.

Read the series: Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3

“Then why not make it yourself?” — His love of Taketsuru 17 Year Old, and the miracle of Kameda Distillery’s birth set in motion by his wife’s words

As I mentioned in Part 1, you cannot tell the story of how Kameda Distillery was born without the words his wife spoke.

President Douta was lamenting that his beloved “Taketsuru 17 Year Old” had won worldwide acclaim, become scarce, and would soon be out of their reach… To that, his wife (now president of Ohtani, the seal maker) said lightly, “Then why not make it yourself?”

Most people would laugh off a suggestion like that: “What are you talking about?”

In fact, the president himself was shocked at first: “There’s no way I could build such huge equipment.”

I just could not stop wondering.

Why was his wife able to push her husband forward so easily?

While searching for the answer, I came across the “view of life and management” left by the former chairman on the company’s website.

“Live your one and only life for your own growth.” The philosophy left by the former chairman of Ohtani, the seal maker, and the “power to live” it gave to whisky-making

The former chairman’s words read as follows (quoted from the company website):

“As a professional and as a human being, within this one and only life, let your potential bloom, and grow yourself through your work.”

Perhaps his wife’s powerful words came naturally from this family-motto-like spirit: “let your potential bloom in your one and only life.”

To her, her husband’s love of whisky must have looked like a precious possibility that deserved to “bloom” as a new business.

Former pharma MR President Douta’s precise science leads to in-house malting: Kameda’s own blueprint, where liberal arts meet biology

Fired up by those words, President Douta turned whisky-making into reality at astonishing speed.

“I studied humanities,” he says a little shyly — yet he made full use of the skill in reading scientific papers and the knowledge of biology he built up as a pharmaceutical MR.

He formed hypotheses from the literature, set up “control groups” for comparison, and repeated thorough trial and error.

He introduced in-house malting even when people around him told him to stop, and chose to ferment every batch in wooden washbacks, fully aware of the maintenance it would take.

All of this was, in itself, “work that makes you grow.”

Not following anyone’s boom, but to make “his own whisky,” the president turned his entire past career into drops of whisky.

“Eels” raised on distillery waste heat, and “employment support” that carries on a tradition: the warm giving-back to society that Kameda’s whisky circulates through Niigata

The chairman’s teaching closed with these words as well: “Life is worth living only when it comes with the feeling that you are helping people and contributing to society.”

That spirit links beautifully to the distillery’s unique range of activities today.

• Eel farming: the large volume of near-70°C hot water produced during distillation is reused instead of thrown away.
• Employment support for people with disabilities: carrying on a tradition that dates back to the 1960s–70s, bottling of Kameda’s whisky and other work is done by people with disabilities from the local community.

Speaking about this employment support, President Douta told me, “Working and earning money is a happy thing — it’s a way of taking part in society.”

Kameda Distillery’s website also says that his wife’s parents strongly opposed the founding of the distillery.

Who would have thought that the man their daughter chose would embody the former chairman’s philosophy more than anyone, and make its potential bloom in his own colours? I imagine even the former chairman would be impressed.

Pisces and Capricorn: “What if whisky were a person?” The “map of possibilities,” like Niigata’s starry sky, inside Kameda’s bottles

The labels of the single malts I was able to get on this visit hide a lovely secret.

•First release: a “Pisces” girl, expressing gentleness and sweetness.

•Second release: the room of a “Capricorn” man, marked by a lingering sweet peat.

I only found out later that these labels are a “Zodiac Sign Series.”

The theme seems to be: “If whisky were a person, what kind of person would it be?”

Drinking while letting your imagination grow is so much fun!

I would like to write about each bottle in another column.

Personally, I am already looking forward to the Leo release!

At the end of Kameda Distillery’s website, these words were left (quoted from the website):

Our journey has only just begun.

For the people who find my whisky delicious, and for myself, I will keep making whisky.

To me, it looks like a “map of life’s possibilities,” drawn by a president who believed in his own potential and started walking in this land.

This trip took me from Hiroshima to Niigata as one fan.

The precious Kameda whiskies in my hands felt like crystals of a strong will: “to use up this one life for someone else, and for my own growth.”

---

From Little Happiness to all of you:

“Drink Kameda whisky now, while you still can!!”

In each glass, like the stars colouring Niigata’s night sky, a warm and powerful story is dissolved.

Every encounter is meant to be. Welcome to the world of Rum&Whisky.

[A note from Tanimoto] This article about Kameda Distillery is based on my own visit, but it also includes some of my personal thoughts and interpretations. Please enjoy it as the musings of one whisky lover.