Daiichi Alcohol is a joint investment between Mercian, whose motto is to contribute to customer food and health and provide happiness and emotion as a leading company of wine, and Kyowa Hakko Bio, which contributes to people's health through advanced fermentation technology. Daiichi Alcohol was founded in July 2010 and started as a company responsible for alcohol sales.

Our alcohol business dates back to 1935, while Kyowa Hakko Bio commenced operations in 1943. Since then, the companies have gained high praise and trust from customers and have built up solid foundations in the marketplace by responding to the wide-ranging technical demands of alcoholic beverage manufacturing through in-depth tie-ups with sales personnel, factories, research institutes and distribution.

Our alcohol business (Daiichi Alcohol) continues this history by providing the base alcohols used to make alcoholic products such as sake, shochu (Japanese spirits), liqueurs and mirin (used in cooking) as well as industrial alcohols used extensively in food production and other industries.

As a member of the Kirin Group, we are working to maximize Group synergies, to harness the benefits of scale, to improve our ability to adapt to changes in the external environment, and to ensure stable business operations in the medium to long term.

Base alcohols for alcoholic beverage production
Ethyl alcohol refined from sugar cane and other sources is retailed as a base alcohol for use in manufacturing alcoholic beverages such as sake, liqueurs and low-alcohol drinks. It is delivered from alcohol storage facilities around the country to alcoholic beverage manufacturers.

Industrial alcohols
The abolition of the alcohol monopoly in April 2001 saw a substantial relaxation of the regulations on the sale and usage of industrial alcohols. Subsequently the importing, manufacture, sale and usage of industrial alcohols was fully liberalized in April 2006.
Daiichi Alcohol sells industrial alcohol mainly to the foodstuffs, cosmetics and pharmaceutical industries.