Mars Whisky
About the Brand
The Hombo family, owners of Mars Whisky, first took out a licence to distill whisky in 1949, although it was not until 1960 that they started making whisky - and not in Kagoshima, but at a purpose built plant in Yamanashi. This was run by Kiichiro Iwai, who had been Masataka Taketsuru's immediate superior at the turn of the century and who was responsible for sending Taketsuru to Scotland in 1919 to learn how whisky was produced. Both men had worked for a firm, Settsu Shozu, which had intended to build Japan's first whisky distillery. Sadly, when Taketsuru returned from Scotland, the firm was in administration.
