Distillation

See Yoichi's stills for the first time, and you'll hear them before you truly take them in: the crackle and glow of real coal burning beneath the copper. Yoichi is one of the last distilleries left in the world still firing its stills directly with coal, rather than steam or gas.

The stills have a straight neck with a downward-angled lyne arm, the same design used at Longmorn in Scotland, where Taketsuru once trained. At the base of the still, temperatures climb past 1,000 degrees Celsius. A stoker must constantly adjust the coal by hand, or the mash will scorch against the copper.

This job, often called "kama-taki" in Japanese, is regarded as one of the last true crafts left in the still house. Too much heat burns off the aroma; too little stalls the distillation. Experienced stokers need years before they're trusted to handle the fire on their own.

Distillation happens twice, as with Scotch single malt: once in the wash still for a rough low wine, once in the spirit still for the finer spirit. Only the middle cut of the second run, the "heart," goes into the cask; the heads and tails return to the next batch.

Akkeshi, younger and further east, uses copper stills from the Scottish coppersmith Forsyths, the same maker that supplies many Islay distilleries. The character here differs from Yoichi's, but the aim is much the same: a spirit robust enough to hold onto smoke and sea in the glass.

One island, two philosophies. Here, fire fed by human hand; there, technology delivering batch after batch with reliable consistency.