Tenpai Distillery

History and Story

Founded in 1898 by Jutaro Tada, the distillery spent its first several decades operating like most regional producers. However, the true turning point for Tenpai came in the mid-20th century under the guidance of its 3rd-generation leader, Masanobu Tada.

Up until the 1970s, "barley shochu" was rarely 100% barley. Most distilleries used a rice-based koji starter because rice is much easier to cultivate mold on, adding steamed barley only during the secondary fermentation phase. Furthermore, mass-market shochu was frequently treated with carbon chemicals to strip flavor or cut with sugar additives to smooth out harsh profiles.

In 1970, Tenpai made a declaration that shook the industry: they completely banned all additives, chemical processing, and sugars from their facility. Then, in 1976, they became the first distillery in Japan to successfully commercialize a 100% pure barley shochu, figuring out how to grow koji directly onto polished Fukuoka-grown Nijo barley.