Mars brand whisky has a long tradition in the manufacture of spirits. The family-owned Hombo Shuzo Co. was founded in 1872 in the southern Japanese city of Kagoshima to make Shochu, a traditional Japanese brandy. In the early 1950s, the company decided to start distilling whisky to expand its product portfolio. However, it did not distill the first batches until ten years later, in the new buildings of a distillery built in Yamanashi Prefecture, in the center of the main island of Honshu. This site was only used for a few years, before the production facilities were moved again. The new home is the Shinshu distillery near Nagano, where Mars brand whisky was first produced in 1985.

Japan's highest whisky distillery, however, was forced to close only a few years later. Hombo Shuzo Co. waited for the development of interest in Japanese whisky and its growing popularity to renovate the production site. Since 2011, Mars whisky barrels are filled again at the Shinshu distillery. 

Since 2016, the company also distills at a second site. A distillery modeled after the Shinshu distillery has been built at the historic production site of the Hombo Shuzo Co. group in Kagoshima. We look forward to seeing the whiskies that this distillery will add to our product line in the coming years.