Gaiaflow Shizuoka Whisky Distillery Tour Review[photos]Japan
※当サイトには広告・アフィリエイトリンクが含まれています。
At the end of April 2023, we went to visit Gaiaflow Shizuoka Distillery.
There was a bus from Shizuoka Station timed to the distillery tour, but ours was quite a whirlwind trip — a day trip from Osaka, driving about four and a half hours each way.
One of us couldn’t drink, but even so, the tour content was fun, and afterward we could do a paid tasting of whisky you can only drink at the distillery and buy limited items, so we thoroughly enjoyed it.
I’d love you to hear the details and experience it at the distillery, but here I’d like to introduce how we enjoyed it.
※For the latest information on English tours and whisky, please check the distillery’s official website.
スポンサーリンク
目次
Access/Location
Gaiaflow Shizuoka Distillery
〒421-2223
555 Ochiai, Aoi-ku, Shizuoka City, Shizuoka Prefecture
TEL: 054-292-2555
FAX: 054-292-2500
If you go by train, there’s a bus from Shizuoka Station.
It apparently takes about an hour, but for those who want to drink on-site, the bus is definitely recommended.
Going by expressway, we arrived in about 20 minutes from Shin-Shizuoka IC on the Shin-Tomei.
Book on the Website When You Go
When you go, a booking is required.
The website is very nice too, it’s easy to see when they’re open, and it was easy to book.
The distillery tour is 1,100 yen, paid at check-in on the day.
Besides that, the tasting is paid, but they’re all whiskies you can’t easily get, so I thought it’s very much worth going.
We joined the 10 a.m. session.
スポンサーリンク
A Rich, One-Hour Distillery Tour
I’d love you to hear the details and experience it in person, so here’s a brief introduction.
We arrived early, so we waited outside, but going inside, the second floor is the reception, store, and tasting corner.
It’s not a very large space, but it’s very lovely, a nice space where you can see the pot stills, and it seems only those with bookings can use it.
Once the participants gather, the tour starts.
Photos are all okay, so we took lots of photos.
They explained the flow of how whisky is made in an easy-to-understand way.
What was striking was that they use two distillation methods.
Shizuoka Distillery’s features are that it uses a pot still that was used at the now-closed Karuizawa whisky distillery, and that it distills using firewood, which no one else does — and being able to actually see that was really moving.
Another is being able to experience the aroma of the distilled whisky.
We’ve been to several distilleries so far, but it was the first time we’d been let experience the mid-process aromas.
They showed us the cask room too.
After the Tour, Savor the Paid Tasting
After the tour, you can enjoy a paid tasting.
You can taste the whisky made at Shizuoka Distillery, which is hard to buy by the bottle.
You can also experience the taste of the owner’s casks.
Since I was the driver, by buying a mini bottle (150 yen) I could buy 10 mL each of what I wanted.
I splurged a little and bought like an adult.
We bought other whiskies and goods too.
Since Gaiaflow originally started as a distillery from importing and selling whisky, you can also buy many kinds of rare whiskies, like Scotch whisky and Indian whisky.
The black bottle on the right is our spoils from Rokkosan Whisky Distillery, which we went to the next day.
Reference article: Rokkosan Whisky Distillery Tour Reviews-kobe,Japan
スポンサーリンク
Summary
The distillery is in a place with clean water, a little away from town, so access is inevitably poor, but there’s a bus, and even if you go by car, you can buy the things you want to experience to take home.
Please do savor the atmosphere you can only feel on-site and the whisky you can only drink at the distillery.