Secrets of the world's top whisky: Japanese water and Spanish casks

A monument to distillery founder Shinjiro Torii and his son, Keizo Saji, its second generation master blender, stands in the compound of Suntory Holdings' Yamazaki Distillery in Shimamoto town, Osaka prefecture, near Kyoto.

It's the first Japanese whisky to claim the crown.

Nestled at the foot of wooded hills near the ancient Japanese capital of Kyoto, the Yamazaki whisky distillery feels a long way from the northerly glens of Scotch's spiritual home.