Sake Stories

Kitsukura · Nagano Prefecture

◆ Yuzu / Cheerful

Kitsukura has brewed sake in Saku, an alpine valley ringed by volcanoes, since the late 1600s. Portraits of the Ide family's ancestors watch over the sitting room, keeping the family true to tradition. Taida Ide, the 19th generation, spent seven years of trial and error creating something new anyway: a naturally sparkling sake. Tradition and innovation, under one roof.

Hakuyou · Fukushima Prefecture

Two sakes from this brewery:

◆ Pear / Regal
◆ Lychee / Bold

Hakuyou is one of the smallest sake breweries in Japan, in Shirakawa, Fukushima. The 2011 earthquake crushed its wooden beams, and owner Hiroo Ohya spent nearly a decade rebuilding it by hand, brick chimney included. Today he runs it with two brewers, the Okii brothers, while raising his kids at home. He is still innovating, too, including a yeast that flew aboard the International Space Station.

Housui · Tokushima Prefecture

Two sakes from this brewery:

◆ Mineral / Rugged
◆ Bamboo / Steadfast

Housui started out in tobacco, until Japan's government took over the industry in 1912 and the family turned to sake. The brewery sits on a remote mountain slope in Tokushima, with water trucked in daily from a 1,000-foot well. Fourth-generation owner Yasuo Baba is a gifted calligrapher, a whisky lover and a big-hearted competitor who will happily take on anyone in an arm-wrestle. Late one night at his favorite whisky bar, he summed up his whole outlook: “No countries, one people.”

Dainagawa · Akita Prefecture

◆ Strawberry / Tender

Dainagawa sits in Akita's Snow Country, where snowmelt gives some of the softest water in Japan. Bungo Tanaka was a financial advisor who helped save the brewery, then rolled up his sleeves and worked the floor beside his crew. He held them to exacting standards, down to scrubbing rice trays by hand with toothbrushes, and celebrated them just as hard. Today his family and team carry his work forward.

Kubo Honke · Nara Prefecture

Two sakes from this brewery:

◆ Mint / Rebellious
◆ Nectar / Dreamy

Kubo Honke has brewed in Nara, where sake was arguably born, since 1702, in buildings nearly unchanged for 14 generations. Junpei Kubo and his brother had finance careers in London until their father called them home. Junpei revived kimoto, a difficult and nearly lost way of brewing. He also installed a leather massage chair at the brewery so his crew could rest during the grueling season.

Yamana · Hyogo Prefecture

◆ Custard / Graceful

The Yamana family has farmed the same land in Hyogo's foggy Tamba region for 12 generations, ever since a samurai ancestor was ordered to farm it. When Yoichiro Yamana took over, he brought back kimoto, the old, labor-intensive way of brewing. It meant starting over with a new crew, led by an elder brewer who still knew the method. He even commissioned hand-built cedar tanks, the first the brewery had made in decades.

Miyashita · Okayama Prefecture

Two sakes from this brewery:

◆ Honey / Easygoing
◆ Toffee / Worldly

Okayama was once home to hundreds of sake breweries, but rising costs and fierce competition closed their doors one by one, until only about 46 remained. Miyashita's roots go back to around 1910, when two orphaned brothers were taken in by a relative who brewed sake. Rather than stay with sake alone, chairman Buichiro branched out into craft beer and then whisky, distilled in a German copper still. That openness, in his mindset and in his product line, is why Miyashita thrives today. Taste all three side by side in our Diversity Flight: Miyashita sake, beer and whisky.

Nakagawa · Tottori Prefecture

Two sakes from this brewery:

◆ Malt / Earnest
◆ Muscat / Mischievous

Nakagawa has brewed on Tottori's rugged Sea of Japan coast since 1818. Over 30 years, the brewery worked with a local university to bring back Gouriki, a nearly lost heirloom rice. Yuto Nakagawa learned from his father, Morio, and still brews his father's Pure Grain Junmai alongside his own creation, Hide and Seek. Try Pure Grain, then Hide and Seek, and taste the handoff from father to son.

Tsukinowa · Iwate Prefecture

◆ Honeydew / Mysterious

Hiroko Yokozawa grew up in Iwate, where her father ran the family sake brewery, and she had no interest in ever taking it over. She left home and the family business behind for Tokyo, for university and then modeling. One fateful night, a Tokyo bartender who had no idea who she was poured her his favorite sake. It was her father's, and in that moment she knew her destiny was to go home and carry it on. She trained at the Nanbu brewers' school and has led Tsukinowa as its toji for about 20 years.