Few products are more closely associated with the idea of terroir than the whiskies of Scotland. Highland, Lowland, Islands, Campbeltown, and Speyside--all Scotch regions where the variations in soil, water, rainfall, barley, methods of fermentation, distilling, aging, and barrel types depend on centuries of deeply regional traditions. The terroir of each region is said by experts to create a unique character in the whisky.
So when the Japanese began to manufacture their own whiskies, starting in 1870 at the outset of the Meiji era (1868-1912), the endeavor might easily have been viewed as hubristic. Rather than a boast, however, the decision to try to create whisky like that of Scotland was part of a general, national decision to pay homage to the West.
Emperor Meiji, guided by his advisors, chose to emulate Prussian methodology. At its peak, Prussia was perfecting science: The documentation of observed events that could be duplicated reliably and validly in various settings. Before this modernization of methods, studies and results depended more heavily on the scientist and the specific laboratory. It was, one could say, a time when terroir was more prevalent in research.
The Meiji era in Japan ushered in modern teaching methods, research, and the development of independent academies and institutions. As a result, using science, Japan discovered how to make delicious, first-rate whisky that ultimately, over many decades of work, tastes as good as the finest products from Scotland.
Ironically, whisky, a product long held to be synonymous with terroir and regional character, can now be seen, through Japanese innovation, as one of the world’s first global products. By applying Western methodology to their regions, the early whisky makers of Japan turned the idea of terroir on its head. Inspired, too, by a Shinto outlook of striving towards perfection, early manufacturers in Japan believed they could master the task. Japanese whisky is now a symbol of the power of science and religion to transform agriculture and diminish the critical, historical importance and necessity of geographical influences.
Unlike Scotland, where specific regions create the character of each whisky, products from Japan are spread throughout the country: The prefectures of Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyoto, Nagano, Saitama, Shizuoka, and Yamanashi. Not one of these areas has specific climatological conditions, water variations, or agricultural methodology that inform the whisky in ways comparable to the regional influences seen in Scotland. The distillery owners...
