Nishinomaya

Nishinomaya was a Japanese grain whisky distillery and bottling plant, originally commissioned by Masataka Taketsuru out of a desire for his Nikka Whisky Distilling Co to produce Scotch-style malt-and-grain blends. His company did not have the requisite funds at the time, so the distillery was built by its parent company, Asahi Bakushu, using Coffey stills built in Scotland. The first spirit was produced in 1964 and blended into Nikka whisky from the following year. In 1968, Asahi merged the Nishinomaya distillery into the Nikka operation entirely.

The distillery operated until 1998 when the decision was made to move the distilling equipment to Miyagikyo distillery instead. Nishinomaya was the demolished and the land sold back to the Asahi breweries operation. Very little Nishinomaya has ever been bottled unblended, however some has been sold as Nikka Coffey Grain.