Customer Feedback

Ichiro’s Malt has won the top prize for three years in a row*1 at the World Whiskies Awards held in the UK, and has also been highly acclaimed in Japan and overseas. Its manufacturer, Venture Whisky Company, utilizes wastewater treatment equipment from Drico Co., Ltd., the ASAHI YUKIZAI GROUP company in charge of our water treatment business, for both its No. 1 distillery and the new No. 2 distillery, opened in October 2019. President & CEO Ichiro Akuto told us how ASAHI YUKIZAI wastewater treatment equipment is helping in the manufacture of fine whiskies that are loved by connoisseurs all over the world.
*1 As of March 2020 In the Single Cask Single Malt category in 2017, and the Blended Limited Release category in 2018, 2019 and 2020

Wastewater Treatment Is Indispensable for Whisky Production in Coexistence with the Natural World

Whisky production involves processes such as saccharification, fermentation and distillation. Wastewater is generated in each process, such as fluid waste or dirty water produced during cleansing. Whisky is produced from natural ingredients but actually the wastewater BOD*2 is high. Meanwhile, the city of Chichibu has some of the strictest wastewater standards in Japan. The wastewater from the distilleries must be purified and the BOD reduced to clear those standards or it cannot be released into the river, which would make whisky production impossible. Whisky is produced from the bounties of nature, in coexistence with the natural world. Wastewater treatment itself may not have a direct impact on the quality of the whisky, but I consider it to be indispensable for whisky production.
In 2017 our company was considering the installation of a wastewater treatment system. We were increasing production at that time in response to the growing popularity of Ichiro’s Malt. The volume of wastewater was also increasing as a result, and the existing No. 1 distillery equipment couldn’t cope with the volume. We decided to install equipment that could treat a greater volume of wastewater, and asked five water processing companies, including Drico, to submit a quote. Our focus was on the purification performance. One of the other four companies was much cheaper, but there was no point in buying the equipment if it couldn’t clear the standards. Based on a balance between purification performance and cost, we decided to adopt Drico’s wastewater treatment system.
*2 Biochemical oxygen demand: This represents the amount of oxygen consumed by bacteria and other microorganisms when they decompose impurities in the water. The higher the value, the worse the water quality

A Persuasive Proposal Based on Experience with Another Whisky Company

At the same time that we were discussing the installation of wastewater treatment equipment for the No. 1 distillery, we were also moving forward with plans to build our No. 2 distillery. We estimated that the volume of wastewater would be five times that of our No. 1 distillery when the No. 2 distillery came into operation, and we would need a wastewater treatment system big enough to handle that. Moreover, although there was only enough space in the aging room for one preparation a day when the No. 2 distillery first came into operation, the completion of the new aging room makes up to three preparations a day possible. Wastewater treatment systems have a concrete frame so they would be difficult and expensive to extend later if the volume of wastewater increased.
Drico’s system had been adopted by a manufacturer of alcoholic beverages in general, and that company makes whisky as well. This meant that Drico had acquired know-how regarding the water quality of the fluid waste generated by whisky production and the equipment required to process it. They submitted a proposal not only for a wastewater treatment system that took into consideration the future volume of wastewater from the No. 2 distillery, but also for apparatus capable of inexpensively processing the waste matter generated at the same time as the wastewater is treated. Their proposal went beyond simply installing equipment in our No. 1 distillery and was based on their experience with another company in our industry. Its content was very convincing and we knew we could trust them to do a good job.

Environmental Awareness Leads to Better Whisky Production

Drico’s post-installation maintenance service is also very thorough and helps us tremendously. They carry out a careful inspection once a week, and deal swiftly with any malfunction that may have occurred. We really are very grateful to them. I was once shown an actual example of pretreated wastewater and the purified water, and I am even more aware of the environment now than I was before we installed Drico’s system.
In recent years, a succession of new distilleries have been opened in Japan. I used to be the same, but in many cases they focus entirely on production and don’t think as far as the treatment of wastewater and waste matter. However, in the case of whisky production, where the cost of that treatment increases as you expand production, you are going to hit a brick wall at some point unless you bear that in mind. Wastewater standards are not so strict for small distilleries, but once you try to expand production and the amount of wastewater exceeds a certain limit, the standards become remarkably stricter.
Chichibu is my hometown and the flavors of Ichiro’s Malt are nurtured by the nature here. That is why we have a duty to preserve Chichibu’s beautiful environment. We are currently enhancing our production system so that we can offer Ichiro’s Malt to as many people as possible. Drico is the unsung hero that supports us in this. It is thanks to Drico’s equipment that we can devote ourselves to producing whisky without having to worry about wastewater treatment.