Mars Tsunuki Distillery

In 1960 the company moved its whisky making from Kagoshima to its new Yamanashi plant, Mars Yamanashi Distillery.^3,8 From 1969 to 1984 it made malt whisky at its Kagoshima City plant, then brought distilling together at Mars Komagatake Distillery in Nagano, then called Mars Shinshu.^2,3

Hombo Shuzo built the distillery for about 500 million yen, with one mill and one mash tun.^2,3,6 When it opened in 2016, it could make 108,000 litres of alcohol a year.^2,3,6 It has one wash still of 6,000 litres and one spirit still of 3,300 litres.⁹ Their lyne arms, the pipes that carry vapour from the still to the condenser, point downward, more so than at Mars Komagatake.^7,9 Its stills were designed very differently from those at Shinshu, and it was built with worm tub condensers, which turn vapour back into spirit, to make a heavier spirit.^1,10 Its 5 stainless steel washbacks are the tanks where wort, the sugary water from the mash, ferments.^8,9,10 Fermentation lasts 72 to 96 hours.^9,10 Its whisky is made with spring water from the Kurata mountain range.^6,9,11 The spirit matures at three separate locations: warm Kagoshima, cold Komagatake, and a cellar on Yakushima island.¹⁰ Tsunuki's warm, humid climate makes maturation much faster there.¹⁰

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