Twenty Years at Coca-Cola
Jonathan Knight spent two decades at the top of one of the world's most recognised companies. Senior Vice President on the board of Coca-Cola Japan. Chairman of the 12 Japan bottlers. A career most people would never leave.
But the rigidity of corporate life was strangling his thinking. The rules, the hierarchy, the endless caution — none of it left room for what was brewing inside him. So he left. Or rather, as he tells it, he was kicked out.
Either way, it was the best thing that ever happened to Chilly Niseko.
A Bartender in Brazil
In 2016, on a trip to Brazil, a bartender made Jonathan a chilli-based drink that stopped him cold. It challenged his taste buds in a way nothing had before — and quickly became the foundation of something new.
He had grown tired of mixing the same cocktails night after night. The established cocktail set needed to be challenged. So he challenged himself: create something with a different name, a different taste, and a different spirit entirely.
Chilly Niseko was born from that fatigue — and that obsession.
Born In Japan
Back at The Cabin Bar in Niseko, customers arrived with a challenge: make something that tastes like nothing they have ever tasted. Something to challenge the senses. Something Niseko could be remembered by.
He delivered. Night after night, the drink evolved. Habaneros sourced from Japan gave it a heat that built slowly. Fruit extracts balanced it with sweetness. And somehow, even people who claimed to hate spicy food couldn't stop drinking it.
The Moment It Had To Be Bottled
Then came the call. The General Manager of the Park Hyatt Niseko wanted to serve Chilly Niseko in the main bar.
There was one problem: the formula was a secret. It wasn't going on a recipe card or being handed to a team of hotel bartenders. If it was going to the Park Hyatt — and everywhere that followed — it needed to go into a bottle.
So Jonathan condensed the formula. He bottled the complexity. And made it repeatable — the same perfect drink, every single time, in seconds.
Born In Japan. Made In England.
Chilly Niseko is produced by GB Beverages Ltd., based in Harrogate, England — but its soul belongs to Japan. The Japanese wave pattern on the sleeve, the Japanese script on the label, the Habaneros sourced from Japan: none of it is accidental.
This is a drink that carries two worlds in one bottle. The craft and precision of Japanese culture. The boldness and irreverence of England. The result is something that doesn't comply with the norm — and never will.