Tenpai Distillery was established during the Meiji Era in 1898 in the Asakura district of Fukuoka making Honkaku barley shochu from locally grown grain crops. Today the fourth and fifth generations of the Tada family are leading the way making high quality Honkaku shochu using a combination of traditional techniques and innovative methods to enhance their range and production.
The distillery was the first to make shochu from 100% barley including growing koji on polished barley grains. Interestingly Tenpai uses yellow koji and a kimoto starter fermentation to encourage the growth of lactic acid producing micro-organisms, which echoes sake fermentation. The majority of Kyushu shochu producers favour the use of white and black koji, so Tenpai Distillery’s approach is a point of difference and has been key to developing their flagship Craftsman series, which is designed to create exceptional pairings of shochu with food.
