Breweries
Yoshimura Hideo Shoten’s female toji focuses on the traditional Kimoto and Yamahai brewing methods, with a special focus on Koji making. This method highlights the natural umami flavors and delivers a clean finish.
Kubo Honke Brewery
Family run brewery with over 300 years of history, focusing on Kimoto sake brewing. Located in Uda, Nara Prefecture, the craft sake brewery's speciality is aged sake and a Kimoto Nigori sake.
The brewer of “Hakurakusei", aiming to deliver the “ultimate food sake”. The Miyagi-based brewery, founded in 1873, was destroyed by the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011 and successfully restored by the end of the same year.
Ota Brewery
Ota Shuzo has traditionally focused on highlighting sake produced with ingredients from their province of Mie. But recently Ota Shuzo, led by the youngest toji in the province, has ventured more into modern sake as well, launching the Hanzo & brand which is specifically made for an audience accustomed to wine.
The producer of "Ibi" is one of the smallest sake breweries in Japan, located in the mountainous Gifu Prefecture. Currently run by the 5th generation Keiki Sugihara, the brewery focuses on brewing sake with locally grown “Ibi No Homare” rice.
Shimizu Seizaburo Shoten
Brewery of the famous award-winning “Zaku” brand. Founded in 1869, Shimizu Seizaburo Shoten is located in Suzuka, which is blessed with limpid subterranean water from the nearby mountain ranges and high-quality rice from the Ise Plain.
Brewery of the Toyo Bijin, which aims to be “clear water that has passed through the rice plant”. The brewery located in Yamaguchi is led by a young brewmaster, who trained at the famous Takagi Brewery (maker of Juyondai).
Tenzan Brewery
The brewer of "Shichida”. Using the clear water of the Gion River, which is said to be ideal for sake brewing, the Saga-based brewery aims to brew sake that brings out the flavor of the rice, including Yamada-Nishiki grown by the brewer himself and sake rice produced by local farmers.
Brewer of Ishizuchi. Founded in 1920 the small family-run brewery is located in Saijo, famous for its clear water. The family of four crafts excellent food sake which is clear and refreshing yet with a prominent flavor.
Aihara Brewery
Founded in 1875 in Nigata-cho, Kamo-gun, which flourished as a military port in the Meiji era and is known as the birthplace of Hiroshima sake. The company pioneered the industry's shift to the production of premium sake in the 1980s, and in 1999 installed large refrigerators to ensure that all sake is kept cold.