Pot stills with Shide blessing Yoichi distillery was founded by Taketsuru Masataka, who learnt his skills and technique in Scotland. Before selecting a location for his distillery he wanted an environment that closely resembled Scotland, the north-west town of Yoichi in Hokkaido met his requirements. There is free entry to this open air museum and the tour is self-guided. As you meander through the property you can enter various disused buildings that Nikka long out grew. The signage is in Japanese and English, there are some videos at each building, but I only recall these being in Japanese. Buildings cover topics such as the barrels, the malt, the fermentation, the…