In 2001, Masao Ishihara and his party left Karuizawa and headed straight for Saitama Prefecture. This time, they were going to attend the completion ceremony of the Chichibu Whiskey Distillery, a subsidiary of the group.

As the director of Chichibu Whiskey Distillery, Hito Ichiha led his men to wait outside the gate of the distillery for a long time. He watched the convoy slowly slow down from far to near, not far from him.

As soon as the co-pilot's door opened, Ryunosuke Oda, the head of the president's secretary's office, got out of the car first, then walked to the back seat of the car to punch the door for President Masao Ishihara.

As soon as Masao Ishihara got off the train, he stood firm and faced Hito Ichichi and others, he was greeted with a uniform bow.

Then, Ichihiro, who stood upright, took the initiative to walk towards the president, and then stood still and said, "President, you have worked hard all the way."

Masao Ishihara smiled slightly and said, "What's hard work or not? The businessman is running around. I have fully fulfilled my promise to you!"

Hitoi Ichiha replied seriously: "Yes. I will also devote my life to Chichibu Whiskey Distillery and burn out my last life."

Masao Ishihara said bluntly: "I have also ordered someone to pull you from Karuizawa from the 400 barrels of Hanyu Whiskey Distilletion House to you. Don't let my sincere expectations for you."

Hitoi Ichiro said with a serious expression on his face: "I will definitely do it well and will never let you down. If I really fail, I will definitely apologize for death."

Masao Ishihara smiled again and said, "Don't say these unlucky words. Today is a very happy day. Please accompany me to take a look around."

Hito Ichichi himself acted as a guide and walked into the factory with Masao Ishihara and others. His people followed closely behind.

The location and planning of the entire distillery... Masao Ishihara gave the other party great autonomy, and even the name "Chisibu" of the distillery and the whiskey were named by Hito Ichiko.

Not only Hito Ichichi himself knows the president's high attention to him, but many people inside and outside the group also know the high attention Masao Ishihara attaches to him.

Hito Ichihiro boldly expressed his thoughts: "It takes two or three years to get slower, and three or five years to get slower, and Chichibu Whiskey Distillery will be able to operate completely."

Masao Ishihara said straightforwardly: "This is much faster than the traditional whiskey distilleries."

Hitoi Ichihiko said seriously: “I don’t plan to let Chichibu Whisky Distillery take the old path that traditional whisky distillery take, but to take a new path that none of them have taken.

I remember what President you said to me many times, and don’t go the ordinary path. Chichibu Whiskey Distillery first has to be different from the Karuizawa Whiskey Distillery and the Akiki-cho Whiskey Distillery within the group.

From the purchase of raw materials to the entire brewing process of Karuizawa Whisky Distillery, it is a regular and completely following the brewing path of Scotch whisky.

As a wine that is the leader of our Karuizawa Group, Karuizawa Whisky has always been positioned in the high-end market that is not popular.

From Scotland's import of golden promise barley to importing Shirley barrels from Spain, it is all about making high-quality whiskey.

As for the newly built Akiki-cho whiskey distillery, it no longer follows the brewing route of Scotch whiskey, but it has not fundamentally got rid of its tone.

Since its establishment, the positioning of Akiki-cho Whiskey Distillery is Japan's Ire Island, which focuses on the peat flavor. At this point, you have intervened and denied it. After all, Japanese and Oriental people don't like and are not used to this taste at all."

Masao Ishihara said: "Even if you have to have the outstanding characteristics of peat flavor in whiskey, you must first be lighter peat flavor.

Only by getting used to the audience and consumers and really like it, can they gradually aggravate the peat wind. Don’t just listen to those who say how good the peat smells.

No matter what, this whiskey taste is a particularly niche category, and the audience and consumers in the market are too small.

The history of the construction of the Akiki-cho Whiskey Distillery is simply incomparable to those old distillers in Scotland that are often one or two hundred years old.

Before the popularity of this brand became popular and had cultivated a group of loyal fans, if they scared people away as soon as they came up, they felt that it was so bad, and they could only end up in failure.

Furthermore, although some whisky enthusiasts love to discover whiskeys from unknown brands or distillers, they inevitably have a high-ranking attitude to be picky and always use Scotch whiskeys, especially some old Scotch distillers or big-name whiskeys as fixed templates for comparison.

Back then, the first whiskey white slip brewed by Suntory was a living failure case. Although decades have passed, we should also learn from it.

People’s tastes are not so easy to change. This is often a preference that will be basically developed in the early years and when you are young. Those who like to eat spicy food will always like to eat spicy food.

If you don’t have spicy food for a meal, you will be unhappy. If you force yourself to stop eating spicy food for a while, you will feel uncomfortable and you will have a withdrawal reaction from peppers.”

The main reason why Ichihiko Hito accepted the contract for "selling contract" was also what impressed him the most. It was not the delegation of power by Masao Ishihara, but the fact that they had a new common concept of whiskey brewing, respecting traditions, but not completely following traditions.

Hitoi Ichiha said: "The brewing philosophy of Chichibu Whisky Distillery is to respect traditions but do not completely according to traditions.

In the past, the traditional brewing methods of whiskey should be respected, and they are indeed referenced, and they should also add some new changes."

Masao Ishihara said calmly: "Tell me a little more specifically what you think."

Hitoi Ichihara said everything, saying: "The whiskey produced by Chichibu Whisky Distillery is not limited to the raw wine of a distillery, nor is it limited to the raw wine of a country or region.

We can purchase whiskey raw wine from Japan, Scotland whiskey raw wine, or whiskey raw wine from Canada, the United States and other countries such as the United States.

All the raw wines of whiskey distillers in the world, whether good or bad, can be selected and applied by our Chichibu whiskey distillers.

The benefits are obvious. There are many choices, and you can respond to changes in the market at any time. There will be no problems of stopping production due to insufficient raw wine.
Chapter completed!