Suntory Group is a major Japan-based multinational manufacturer of whiskey, beer, and soft drinks. In addition, it owns food market and restaurant chains in several countries. The company traces its origins back to a small store in Osaka, Japan, that opened in 1899 and initially produced and sold grape wine. In 1907, the store released Akadama port wine, which became one of Suntory’s most famous early products. By 1921, the store had grown into a company named Kotobukiya Limited, and by 1924 it had constructed Yamazaki Distillery. The company’s Suntory White Label, introduced in 1929, became Japan’s first genuine whiskey, and whiskey production remained the company’s mainstay for the next decades. By 1963 the company had named itself after its main whiskey brand, Suntory, and then built the Musashino Brewery, where Suntory beers are still made today. The brewery broadened its portfolio in 1967 with Jun Nama, an unpasteurized beer, and in 1968 with the release of its beers in cans. The first all-malt Suntory beer came in 1986, followed by Suntory The Premium Malt’s [sic] in 1989. By 1993, Suntory began brewing Carlsberg draught under license. Today, Suntory is Japan’s third largest brewery after Kirin Holdings and Asahi Breweries Ltd. Although most of Suntory’s beers are golden, lightly flavored, international-style pilsners, they also produce versions of the beer-like low-malt drink happoshu and a few all-malt specialty beers such as The Premium Malt’s Black, a take on the schwarzbier style.

See also japan.