Blend it Like Fukuyo

How the chief blender of Suntory - Shinji Fukuyo - has helped put Japanese whiskey on the world map

Amin Ali

In the world of celebrity mixologists and influencer bartenders, Shinji Fukuyo is a quiet, unassuming legend. He does not have social media accounts with millions of followers where he posts videos of himself shaking and stirring heady drinks. But as the executive officer and chief blender of Suntory Spirits, Fukuyo is responsible for putting the Japanese whiskey on the world map and making what are now considered iconic blends — Hibiki, Yamazaki and Toki.

Fukuyo, 61, tastes and smells almost 200 drinks a day to come up with the unusual blends. He likes to be personally involved at every step of whiskey-making, and has his nose to the glass, as he is responsible for the quality of all 7 million cases of Suntory whisky.

Being meticulous and precise comes naturally to the Japanese, he says. His discipline of eating boiled food with almost no spices has helped his senses, especially the taste buds, primed to detect the deepest and faintest notes.

He recalls joining the fabled Japanese spirits company The House of Suntory’s Hakushu distillery in 1984. A graduate from Nagoya University, Fukuyo was hooked to the whiskey-making philosophy of the company that emphasised harmony between nature and people. This was a mass production house that still followed an artisanal approach to each bottle.

Fukuyo says while distilleries were producing some of the best products, there was a decline in sales in the domestic market from 1983. Although there were compulsions to come up with newer blends or change the production to boost sales, he recalls, the Japanese whisky producers did not give up on their principles and production ethos.

Blenders were always encouraged to look at innovative ways of malting, fermentation, distillation, ageing and blending and to tune their recipes, but they had to follow the Monozukuri philosophy of manufacturing, which insists on harmony with nature and creating something of value to society. From seed to sip, there was zero compromise on quality.

Innovation while taking care of the legacy of the founders was a task cut out for Fukuyo. He went to Suntory’s Yamazaki distillery as a blender in 1992. He was sent to Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh for whisky-related research in 1996. After two years of research, he worked at a distillery in Glasgow for four years and returned to Yamazaki to resume his journey as a blender. Purity, precision and process were his guiding principles.

Since his appointment as chief blender in 2009, Suntory’s Hibiki, 12 years and 21 years, and Yamazaki, 12 years and 18 years, have regularly been awarded gold and double gold in World Whiskies Award, International Spirits Challenge and San Francisco Spirits Competition. His blends have been awarded the world’s best while Suntory Spirits has got the world’s best whiskey producer and distiller award year after year. While the entire focus was on lifting domestic sales and appealing to discerning local consumers, says Fukuyo, the world started to recognise and marvel at the quality of Japanese whiskies. As the legend of Japanese whiskies started to grow, the brands decided to go international.

From a modest family-owned business that started in 1899 in Osaka, Suntory group has grown into a global alcobev giant with $19.8 billion revenue in the year 2021. Along with that, Fukuyo has gone on to become one of the most respected blenders in the world.

Fukuyo says global acclaim for any Japanese product is due to the detailed and precise technique employed to come up with high standards and quality products. The four seasons of the country that accelerate maturation, Japanese oak, and soft and clean water make the whiskies from the land unique, he says.

Once his blends went international, Fukuyo wanted real feedback. He says market research and data were all fine but he had to visit every market himself to observe consumer behaviour while they tried brands of Beam Suntory, the American subsidiary of Suntory Spirits. He had to know what the reactions were to his brands while deciding new products.

He observed that whiskey was a very versatile product and there was no fixed way of enjoying it. Connoisseurs nose the whisky, soaking in the aroma with a cube of ice or little water, having it for enjoyment or admiration, but people order the drink for different reasons.

His next assignment was to come up with a premium mass product for Indian market – Oaksmith. On his visit to India, he jokes, for the first time he saw whisky with cola, soda, water and ice, all in the same glass. He had also never seen a 30 ml peg added to a glass full of water anywhere else.

Ask him if there is a right way to enjoy the drink and he says there is none. It depends on the occasion, setting and climate. He says since Indians have whiskey with spicy food, they avoid having it neat. He realised that it is logical that soda and ice are a popular combination in the weather here. What he suggests is to pour a little water first, soaking in the aroma and enjoying the taste before adding more water or having it on the rocks. He says a unique demand from Indian consumers has been that they wanted their drink to have a “kick”.

While the growing popularity of Japanese whiskies around the world is very encouraging for Fukuyo, his happiest moments still remain finding that perfect blend in the day out of the 200 samples he tastes or coming across the right oak. Just as satisfying is the praise from his wife while they enjoy one of his blends at their home in Kobe.

Shinji Fukuyo, Executive officer & chief blender of Suntory Spirits, Japan

Responsible for the liquid quality of all 7 million cases of Suntory whiseky brands

Noses and tastes almost 200 samples a day

The products he has blended - Yamazaki Sherry cask, Hibiki Japanese Harmony, Hakushu Distiller’s Reserve - have received awards in international competitions

Published in The Economic Times on May 8, 2022