Uniting the unique landscapes of Japan and Australia to create high-quality liquor

WA grain growers got to drink in Japan’s beautiful scenery as well as consume one of the tasty end products of their hard work at this year’s 2024 CBH Group Grower Study Tour. On September 9, the first day of the annual trip, CBH staff and just under 40 grain growers visited the head office and research centre of Sanwa Shurui, a brewing company that produces distilled spirits such as sake, wine and shochu. Sanwa Shurui, founded in 1958, holds more than 14 per cent of the domestic market’s share in all shochu types, and has a long trading history with CBH. The company is based in Kyushu, Japan’s south-westernmost main island known for it’s subtropical vegetation, boiling thermal springs — and like most of Japan — mountainous landscapes. Sanwa Shurui’s headquarters is nestled among the hilly terrain and draws groundwater from a depth of 300m for their distilled liquor. Sanwa Shurui director Soichi Nagano drew on the environment in which the headquarters were located to highlight how two nations with starkly different characteristics can come together to create high-quality products. “As you can see, our company is surrounded by nature,” Mr Nagano told growers in his opening speech. “We would like to combine the nature of Australia and the nature in Usa, the location of our company, in order to make the best product in the future.” In closing, Mr Nagano said he hoped Sanwa Shurui and CBH would continue to have a strong future relationship. Sanwa Shurui buys WA shochu barley via Japanese grain processing cooperative Zenbekuren. Takenouchi Barley Processing, who processes Australian barley before distributing it to Sanwa Shurui, also gave a presentation to growers at the headquarters. The barley processor’s CEO Toshio Takenouchi, who has visited Australia 20 times, said he had great appreciation for WA growers and the unique location in which they grew their grain. “I visited Australia for the first time when I was 25 years . . . I was so impressed with how vast, how big the fields were,” he said. “We have a good relationship with Australian grain growers and we want to continue that good relationship in the future as well.” While at Sanwa Shurui, growers got to sample some of the company’s liquor and watch the packaging process for Iichiko shochu — particularly the variety that is packaged into paper cartons. On average, Australia exports 120,000 metric tonnes of barley to Japan, leading ahead of Canada which exports 60,000 metric tonnes a year. As is the case for other grains such as wheat, Japan relies on international imports for its barley supply, with more than half of Japan’s demand for barley and hull-less barley fulfilled by imported products. For many growers, the visit to Sanwa Shurui was “eye-opening” and showed them just how important WA barley was in Japan’s supply chain. Wyalkatchem graingrower Amanda Jones said it was interesting to see how the barley was processed and prepared, and to be able to taste the end product, shochu. She said it was also great to see the enthusiasm from Sanwa Shurui and Takenouchi processing staff, who all wanted a close relationship with CBH and its growers. “It’s just so lovely to see how appreciative they are of our product,” she said. Arthur River farmer Sam Burgess said it was “fantastic” to see where WA’s grain ended up, and it was even more important to see just how much the fruit of their labour was enjoyed by customers. “We work so hard when producing this stuff, we don’t really sit back and go ‘who actually gets to enjoy our end product?’ We go to all this effort to grow something, and you miss it,” he said. “So when you come here and actually see the other side, and actually see people enjoying the product and really appreciate what we do . . . that’s huge.” Olivia Ford attended the tour as a guest of the CBH Group.