The best whisky in the world?

Falling in love with a Scots girl was not part of the assignment. Masataka Taketsuru, the 25-year-old son of a sake-making family, had been sent to Scotland in search of a secret: how was the aroma and flavour of whisky created? The Japanese had tried herbs, spices and various recipes but with no success. How did the Scots do it?

Falling in love with a Scots girl was not part of the assignment. Masataka Taketsuru, the 25-year-old son of a sake-making family, had been sent to Scotland in search of a secret: how was the aroma and flavour of whisky created? The Japanese had tried herbs, spices and various recipes but with no success. How did the Scots do it?

At his lodgings, the young Glasgow University chemistry student met Rita Cowan, the daughter of a doctor (above). The Great War had just ended and her fiancé had died in Damascus. Masataka and Rita's marriage, initially without the approval of either family, lasted a lifetime. So did his determination to make a Japanese whisky as good as Scotch. What had been a project became his life's mission.

The journey has just been re-traced by Masataka's son (below, right); and a cask of his whisky has been bottled and made available through the Scotch Malt Whisky Society. Japanese whisky has come a long way: from its origins as a fake sold at the turn of the 19th century to rank among the best in the world. Masataka's rigour helped create a serious whisky industry in Japan while at the same time making Scotch the talisman that it still is in Asia today.

Masataka's work helped Suntory (now one of the world's biggest drinks companies) set up its first distillery. Then he established his own company, Nikka (now owned by the Asahi Brewing Company). The whiskies from Suntory tend toward lightly malty elegance, those from Nikka are more peaty and smoky; but are they as good as the real thing?

The Nikka distillery is located in the fishing village of Yoichi, Hokkaido. When I first visited in the Eighties, I was astonished by its traditionalism, right down to the use of coal-fired stills, but disappointed that it was not bottling a single malt. At that time, both Nikka and Suntory were putting all their malt whisky into blends. The component whiskies were excellent but, with the four principal whisky companies in Japan having only half a dozen malt distilleries between them, it was hard to create complex blends.

Since then the Japanese distillers have followed the Scottish example and gradually begun to release whiskies as single malts. In a tasting of Japanese whiskies for Whisky Magazine a couple of years ago, Nikka 10-year-old performed especially well. Over the life of the magazine, fellow-writer Jim Murray and I sampled some 300 whiskies, from Scotland, Ireland, North America and Japan. Last year our top 50 were then tasted by a "Best of the Best" panel of 30 judges in Edinburgh. Similar judgings took place in Kentucky and Japan. The highest score was awarded to a Nikka 10-year-old, in a single-cask version. The older, 1986 vintage of this complex Japanese distillate is the one available (though in very limited quantities) through the Scotch Malt Whisky Society.

This complex, wintry dram was, I found, peaty, leafy and resiny, with a suggestion of garden mint. It was served as a digestif at a dinner to celebrate its selection by the Society and to honour the Taketsuru family. Takeshi, Masakata and Rita's adopted son, has also spent a lifetime in the industry, having grown up with aromas evocative of Scotland. He remembers smelling a bottle of whisky when he was about 10 years old and wondering why people liked it. "I knew it was some kind of valuable commodity, and something to do with our family." He has more favourable memories of Rita's cooking: "Scotch broth, shepherd's pie, golden pudding made with marmalade."

Those early experiences must have come flooding back as he dined at the headquarters of the Scotch Malt Whisky Society. In a short, gracious speech, he thanked the Scotch whisky industry of 80-odd years ago, for being willing to share its secrets with his father. "They told him everything. They wanted whisky to be made well wherever it was made. They were most hospitable – as you are tonight. This is a very emotional moment. I am honoured to be here," he said.

In Campbeltown, he visited the vestiges of the Hazelburn distillery where his father had briefly worked. Now, a Hazelburn whisky has been revived by the Springbank distillery, and Takeshi was presented with an advanced bottling, four years before it will be ready to go on sale.

A day's drive through the Great Glen took us to Speyside, touring the Longmorn distillery and seeking out corners where his father had been photographed as he forged a love that was to become a family obsession. "My father's company sent him here with a job to do," Takeshi said. "In the beginning, it was a question of responsibility. In Scotland, he developed a passion. Some things remain constant in Scotland. That is not the case everywhere."E

Join the Scotch Malt Whisky Society (0131-554 3451/0131-555 2929/www.smws.com) for £75. New members receive a free bottle of a Society malt. 'Japanese Whisky, Scotch Blend' by Olive Checkland (Scottish Cultural Press, 1998) recounts Rita and Masataka Taketsuru's story.