Tenpai

Japanese name: 天盃

From: Fukuoka prefecture

Founded in: 1898

Tenpai has been the very first distillery to make barley (mugi) shochu using solely barley, even in the koji making stage. The grains are locally grown in Fukuoka prefecture and in the neighbouring Saga one. From sake brewing, Tenpai borrowed the use of yellow koji (as opposed to the more common white and black koji) and the kimoto (or kimotozukuri) technique for preparing the yeast starter, which confers the shochu a specific taste. Another special feature of this distillery is that it is the only one in Japan to operate a double distillation in an in-house pot still. A proof that Tenpai’s mission is to keep making high-quality “traditional” (honkaku) shochu while implementing older techniques with more innovative ones.