Distillery wastewater from barley-shochu making was anaerobically treated by a single upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB), and stable operation at a volumetric TOC loading rate of 3 g/l . d could be attained by diluting raw wastewater to give a TOC concentration of less than 6,000 mg/l (18,000 mg/l as CODcr). When the distribution of the concentrations of aliphatic acids at various levels within the reactor was investigated, it was found that the methanogenic gasification reaction did not occur in the sludge blanket of the reactor. Distillery wastewater from harley-shochu making with various TOC concentrations was preliminarily adjusted to pH 7 and treated by a single passage without circulation of effluent to the bottom of the reactor. As a result, a maximum TOC removal rate (V(max)) of 28.5 g/1.d and a saturation constant (K(s)) of 0.63 g/l were obtained.