Expanding our liquor business nationwide and overseas, based on locally rooted brewing

Hombo Shuzo Co., Ltd. was founded in 1872 (Meiji 5) in Tsunuki (now Minamisatsuma City, Kaseda Tsunuki), Kagoshima Prefecture, and celebrated its 150th anniversary in February 2022. Today, the core of its business includes the manufacturing and sales of global liquor categories such as honkaku shochu, a traditional product of Satsuma, as well as whisky and wine. Additionally, the company owns about 650 hectares of forest across Kagoshima, Miyazaki, and Kumamoto prefectures as a long-term management asset, handed down through generations, contributing to maintaining the nation’s water retention capacity and reducing CO₂ emissions, thus making a modest contribution to the SDGs.

There are currently over 100 shochu breweries in Kagoshima Prefecture, but our company has carved its own path in the liquor industry with a unique business style. We started our liquor business in Tsunuki, our place of origin, by obtaining a license for traditional shochu production (now honkaku shochu) in 1909 (Meiji 42). In 1918 (Taisho 7), we acquired a license for modern shochu production (now korui shochu) and started manufacturing using a German patented Ilges distillation machine. Later, in 1949 (Showa 24), we obtained a whisky production license, and in 1960 (Showa 35), we started the wine business in Yamanashi Prefecture and also established malt whisky distillation equipment designed by Kiichiro Iwai, formally entering the western liquor business.

Currently, we have manufacturing bases in Kagoshima Prefecture, including the “Kagoshima Manufacturer,” “Hoshiyagura”, “Chiran Distillery”, “Tsunuki kishogura”, “Mars Tsunuki Distillery”, “Yakushima Denshogura”, “Mars Yakushima Aging Cellar” in Nagano Prefecture, the “Mars Komagatake Distillery” and in Yamanashi Prefecture, the “Mars Yamanashi Winery” and “Mars Hosaka Winery”. In the sales department, within the Kagoshima headquarters, there are the “Southern Kyushu Branch” responsible for southern Kyushu, the “Fukuoka Branch” for northern Kyushu, the “Osaka Branch” for Kansai and west of Chubu, the “Kanto Branch” for the Koshin region, and the “Tokyo Branch” for the capital region including north of Koshin, with the “Overseas Sales Department” striving daily in major markets such as North America, Europe, and Asia.

Local has value globally

Historically, brewing has been born from the environment, climate, and culture of its region. It’s one of the food cultures that humanity has created and enhanced through the business of international exchanges and trade among peoples of the world. The underlying belief of our company, “Local has value globally” is rooted in this idea, and we believe that valuing what is local in brewing can lead to recognition and respect in the global liquor business scene.

How do the sweet potatoes of Southern Kyushu and two-row barley produced in Kyushu create value through koji, yeast, and distillation technologies? What value does the natural environment and climate of Shinshu, Minamisatsuma, and Yakushima bring to the aging of whisky? What techniques should be polished to turn the grapes nurtured by Yamanashi’s terroir into the best wine? These are the exciting and prideful challenges we face as a local Japanese liquor manufacturer aiming for global recognition.

Thanks to everyone’s support, we have received high praise, including top awards and gold medals, at numerous domestic and international liquor competitions every year. In 2022, we were grateful to receive such accolades as below.

At our company, we have an environment where you can pursue the liquor business with a long-term and global perspective, and where management and employees can work together in a friendly manner, sharing the same vision. Whether you are someone who wants to master the art of making shochu, wine, whisky, etc., as your lifework, someone interested in the liquor business and its peripherals (food culture, its history, commitment to dining, etc.) and wants to engage in work utilizing that knowledge, or someone who wants to work vigorously on the global stage of the liquor market, we are looking for individuals with a mentality to face things head-on and with passion. We would be pleased if you could feel free to reach out to us.