“There’s a Yellow Fruit in There”: A Shindo Distillery Seminar on Whisky Passed Down Across Generations (Fukuoka, Japan)

2026.10.05

In short: notes from a seminar by Shinozaki Shindo Distillery in Asakura, Fukuoka, Japan. The president’s five-year-old daughter smells “a yellow fruit” in whisky; Shinozaki Co. has made sake for about 200 years, run forestry for about 100, and is now planting mizunara oak for future casks; and his father’s words, “make it based on scientific evidence.” A story of what is passed down across generations. By Mika Tanimoto, owner of Bar Little Happiness in Hiroshima.

“There’s a yellow fruit in there”

The other day, I attended a whisky seminar by Shindo Distillery in Asakura, Fukuoka Prefecture.

It reminded me that about three years ago I had tsukemen noodles with President Shinozaki in the middle of the night.

Even late at night he was a perfect gentleman, talking about whisky with his staff.

What stayed with me most from the seminar:

At one point, the president talked about his five-year-old daughter.

“My daughter is only five, but she says things like ‘it smells of proper fruit.’ ‘There’s a yellow fruit in there,’ she says.”

The room relaxed.

A five-year-old girl smells whisky beside her father and calls it “yellow fruit.” Like mango, like peach — the world of aroma that adults struggle to put into words, she already grasps with her own senses.

The president said this with a laugh.

Because he himself grew up being let to smell whisky and wine by his father as a child. And he kept hearing, “Someday I want to make whisky and wine myself.”

That influence shaped who he is today, he said.

From his father to the president. From the president to his five-year-old daughter.

I thought: memories of aroma are handed down across generations.

By the time his daughter turns 20, I can’t wait for her first whisky — not just the aroma, but the taste!

“We also do forestry”

Shinozaki Co., Ltd., which runs Shinozaki Shindo Distillery, is a company that has expanded its business over generations: sake from about 200 years ago, forestry from about 100 years ago, and barley shochu and amazake from about 40 years ago.

Land at about 750 metres above sea level in Hita, Oita Prefecture, next to Asakura.

Mostly cedar and cypress for construction, but recently they have also been planting mizunara oak.

Planting new trees for the next generation, he said.

Whisky casks can only come from trees that have grown for decades.

The mizunara planted today will take decades to grow big enough to be used for casks.

He probably won’t see it in his lifetime.

I thought this is the very worldview of whisky.

Weaving it on across generations.

I love that kind of worldview.

“Make it based on scientific evidence” — words from his father

Another phrase the president said his father repeated to him was: “Use production methods based on scientific evidence.”

It’s no good if something happens to turn out delicious by chance.

Make products with proper backing, so customers can be convinced of both quality and safety.

That philosophy also connects to his bond with his mentor.

His mentor is a teacher who served for many years as head of Nikka Whisky’s technical development centre.

He published papers to the world on post-fermentation by lactic acid bacteria, and the president had known his name for a long time. (I’ve forgotten the name — if you know, please tell me.)

One day, he happened to drop into a bar in Hakata that turned out to be a gathering place for engineers in the industry — and that very teacher’s seminar was scheduled there the following month.

That’s how they met.

People who form connections like this, half chance and half fate, are without doubt people called to this world, I believe.

To be honest, the seminar itself was too technical for me, and I couldn’t follow all of it.

Yeast selection, fermentation time, deciding the distillation cut — technical terms flew around, and it was hard for me, with my limited knowledge of production.

But one thing came across clearly.

That they truly research things in depth.

With “the pursuit of originality” as their corporate philosophy, they step into areas other companies don’t, confirming each thing one by one with scientific backing. It was full of that kind of sincerity.

What is carried on across generations

Whisky goes beyond generations.

The wood for casks comes from trees someone planted decades ago.

The spirit filled into casks also sleeps for years, even decades, before finally becoming a bottle.

By the time it reaches drinkers, the people who planted and the people who filled may no longer be in this world.

Forestry is the same.

The mizunara planted today may not grow big enough for casks in his generation.

Even so, he plants them for the next generation, President Shinozaki said.

The sense that lets a five-year-old say “There’s a yellow fruit in there” is handed down as a memory of aroma, from his father to the president, and from the president to his daughter.

Techniques, philosophy, the sense of aroma — and the trees themselves.

At Shindo Distillery, many things that connect across generations were layered together.

In December, I’ll visit the distillery

Seeing first-hand how sincerely they face their work, my trust in Shindo Distillery truly grew.

After the seminar, I went to ask a question — sorry, about something unrelated to whisky.

There, I was promised a visit to the distillery in December.

I can’t wait to meet the president again in Asakura, where the mountain trees grow.

I hope to write about it here again then.

---

“Whisky and rum taste even better when you touch the hearts of the people who make them.”

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

---