LACOMBE, Alta. – Japanese breweries have dusted off an old recipe for shochu beer made from distilled barley and they want to make it from Alberta crop.
Alberta producers are hoping to sell 80,000 to 100,000 tonnes of Metcalfe malting barley to Japan this year for the special drink that tastes more like scotch than beer.
In 2003, sales of shochu surpassed sake sales in Japan. Originally considered an old man’s drink, shochu has been repackaged and marketed to young women, labourers and businesspeople.
Sales have increased 20 to 40 percent each year in recent years with different bottles, flavours and qualities of the drink aimed at different demographics.
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Bill Chapman, with Alberta Agriculture, said Alberta producers are well placed to take advantage of the growing shochu market.
“A good malt grower could easily get shochu,” said Chapman during a field day at Lacombe that included shochu barley plots.
Last year, Alberta exported 5,000 tonnes of shochu barley to Japan. This year, through a joint project with the Alberta Barley Commission, Alberta Agriculture and Rahr Malting in Alix, Alta., it hopes to increase the exports of shochu quality barley and develop the high-value barley market.
Chapman said they have three barley trials at the Field Crop Development Centre in Lacombe as well as at three other Alberta sites in Killam, Westlock and Falher.
Researchers are seeking ideal growing locations and looking for regional differences in quality.
Rahr already has a percentage of its contracts filled, but will look for more barley as it is harvested.
Chapman said AC Metcalfe, a plump, two-row variety, fits the qualifications the Japanese want.
The barley must also have a kernel hardness score between 55 and 60 on the single kernel characterization system machine.
Once in Japan, the barley is pearled and then fermented with a mould known as koji.
Chapman said shochu barley should fetch a $30 to $50 per tonne premium above malting barley. Currently the shochu price is similar to a select two-row malt barley price.
He said Alberta growers were able to take advantage of the barley market because of the relationship developed over the years between Japanese buyers and Mike Leslie of the Alberta Barley Commission.
