If you listened carefully, the popping sounds from around the room were the brains of distillers from around the world exploding as Ichiro Akuto brought up his next slide. The owner of the two Chichibu distilleries was on a panel at the recent World Whisky Forum in Japan where he and another three Japanese distillers were discussing the lessons they had learned about whisky during the category’s period of decline, recuperation and now boom in their country.
‘This is how we look at ways...
