In 2018, a young master brewer revived a brewery that was on the verge of going out of business, turned the helm to classic sake brewing, and continues to produce a string of high-profile products. How does he achieve such skill and inquisitiveness?

An up-and-coming toji who is highly respected in the industry

The city of Hirado, Nagasaki Prefecture, is a maritime city consisting of Hirado Island, which stretches long and narrow from north to south, and about 40 islands of various sizes scattered around the island. Known as “Philando” during the Age of Discovery, the city has developed as a trading center for people traveling between Japan and other countries. The scenery of the castle town, with its elegant rows of town houses, still remains, reminding us of the bustle of the old days.

In a corner of the town is the Mori Sake Brewery, a long-established sake brewery. Founded in 1895 by Kokichi Mori under the trade name “Komatsuya,” the brewery was incorporated in the 1930s and has been in business ever since. Currently, the brewery is headed by the fourth generation, Yukio Mori.

Until about five years ago, this sake brewery was on the verge of going out of business, with an annual production of less than 50 koku (1 koku = approximately 180 liters). Considering that it is generally said that a minimum of 400 koku is needed to run a sake brewery, the situation was quite difficult. The young toji, Yutaro Mori, the fifth generation of the brewery’s founder, was able to break through this situation.

I think anyone who was born in a brewery must have thought at least once about whether or not to take over the brewery,” he said. I was born and raised here, and I didn’t want to see the brewery disappear during my lifetime. That is why, at first, I wanted to preserve the brewery more than I wanted to make sake,” Yutaro recalls.

After deciding to take over the brewery, Yutaro majored in fermentation engineering at a university in Hiroshima. From undergraduate to graduate school, he studied cutting-edge sake brewing at the National Institute of Brewing Science, an independent administrative agency with which he was affiliated. However, his inquisitive mind and skills have already earned him a prominent position in the industry, and he is attracting attention as a “young toji prodigy.

After completing graduate school and three years of training at a sake brewery in Miyagi Prefecture, Yutaro returned to Hirado at the age of 27. Yutaro felt a sense of crisis at the time, as the brewery had been without a toji for many years and had not been able to produce the sake that he wanted.

I believe that good sake is created not only by sake brewing techniques, but also by the environment of the brewery,” he said. In other words, the daily attitude of the brewery will be reflected in the sake. That is what I learned at my training place. However, when I returned to Hirado, the tools were rusty, and the walls and ceiling were covered with mold. It was no longer possible to make sake properly. The first year I spent in Hirado, I first prepared the environment for sake brewing,” he said.

Maintaining a hygienic environment is very important for sake brewing, which requires the power of microorganisms. Yutaro polished all the available tools and machines, left the beams and pillars of the brewery, repainted the walls, and re-poured concrete. The new brewery has a clean production area, a direct sales store in a renovated warehouse that has remained from the time of the company’s founding, and an event space with a classic atmosphere inside the warehouse.

Mastering the art of sake brewing by letting nature take its course

When Yutaro returned to the brewery, there was no toji (master brewer) in charge of sake brewing, and sake made using a simple brewing technique called “liquefaction brewing” was only sold on the island.

Last year, the company introduced the traditional Japanese sake brewing process called “kimoto zukuri, ” which was established in the Edo period (1603-1868). In general, lactic acid for brewing is added to the mother of sake, which is the base of the unrefined sake, but in kimoto-zukuri, the lactic acid produced naturally by lactic acid bacteria is used. The process takes 40 to 45 days to complete, more than double the time required for normal sake brewing, and requires delicate control processes to cope with long-term changes in temperature and humidity.

On the other hand, in the sake brewing process, the yeast grows by natural means, competing with lactic acid bacteria for survival, resulting in the growth of strong and vigorous yeast and smooth fermentation. The various microorganisms produced during the fermentation process also affect the flavor of the sake, which has become increasingly popular among sake connoisseurs in recent years as a rich, full-flavored sake. Sake is also suitable for long-term aging, as it matures slowly over time, resulting in a sake with a solid core. Our sake tastes stable even after the bottle is opened, and we are confident of that,” he says proudly.

No Oaring, No Adding Water, No Filtration

Mori Sake Brewery does not use the oar-adding process, which is considered essential for sake brewing. Oaring is a process in which a long oar stick is used to stir the tank of unrefined sake to adjust the temperature and fermentation. In general, oar stirring is done twice a day, but here, the yeast is left to do its work and the natural convection is allowed to take place.

Furthermore, water is not added. Sake has a relatively high alcohol content among sake breweries worldwide, so most breweries add water to reduce the percentage of alcohol and adjust the balance of flavor. In addition, sake is not filtered to remove nigori (a thickening of the sake liquor) or to improve the aroma. Yutaro says, “For me, the best sake is the one that tastes the best when it is squeezed, so filtering or adding water is not part of my sake quality design.

Spreading the Terroir of Hirado to the Nation and the World

The main brand of Mori Sake Brewery is the “Hiran” series. Hiran” is the old name for Hirado. Mori Sake Brewery has been brewing sake with a focus on the local climate and hopes that the terroir (local character) of Hirado will be conveyed to the drinker as well. There is a wide range of varieties, from fruity and light, to deep-flavored, crisp and refreshing, to light and unctuous, perfect as an in-between-dinner drink.

For the water used as a raw material, the company has been using the famous water that springs from the foot of Saikyoji Temple, located about 1 km away from the brewery since its establishment. In addition to Yamadanishiki rice, which is known as the best sake rice for brewing sake, Nagasaki’s edible rice “Nikkomaru” is used. The sake has a sour and moderately bitter taste that is intended to complement meals and be both tasty and sharp, making it an irresistibly drinkable sake.

Nagasaki does not have its own sake rice, but as a Nagasaki brewery, we wanted to make it unique. We tried Nikkomaru. The flavor of Nikomaru is effective in its mild aroma, but it is also a sake that can be drunk without hesitation as a mealtime sake. Yutaro says, “Just like the origin of the name Nikkomaru, which means ‘to make you smile when you eat,’ our goal is to create a sake that will naturally make you smile when you drink it.

Brewed in harmony with nature, without overdoing it in terms of ingredients and brewing methods, “Hiran” won a gold medal at the “KuraMaster” sake competition held in France in 2021, the second highest award after the platinum medal. It was also awarded a gold medal at the UK’s KuraMaster competition, and is highly acclaimed overseas.

Cutting down the amount of ingredients to get closer to the natural one

Mr. Yutaro says that in the future he would like to be even more particular about his ingredients, and would like to use pesticide-free rice as well. His original decision to try out the kamishibashi method of sake brewing came from a single-minded desire to use a more natural production method.

I have a sensitive skin myself, and when I was growing rice, the pesticides made my skin rough,” Yutaro said. I wanted to reduce the amount of non-natural ingredients in the products that we put into our bodies, if possible, and that’s how I started making sake. Labor saving through rationality is also revolutionary, and it is because of this that sake brewing is flourishing today. If there are a variety of options, I would like to make sake in accordance with the flow of nature, not in accordance with the convenience of others.

Yutaro is not only pursuing the taste of sake, but also the background of sake production, including society, the natural environment, and the coexistence of humans and microorganisms. Ultimately, I’m aiming for about 1,000 koku. If I go beyond that, I won’t be able to keep my eye on things. First of all, I will work hard to achieve a reasonable scale that suits this brewery.

In a sense, Mori Brewery appears to be a cutting-edge sake brewery, embodying the ” coexistence with nature ” that has been lost in the rapidly changing times. In a sense, it is a cutting-edge sake brewery. This is exactly what his father, Yukio, meant when he said, “Sake brewing that connects us to each other.

The post Up-and-coming master brewer has returned to his roots in sake brewing “Mori Sake Brewery”/Hirado City, Nagasaki Prefecture first appeared on NIHONMONO.

Fukuda Shuzo is a long-established sake brewery that has been making sake in Hirado for about 330 years. The young brothers, Tatsuya and ShinjiFukuda, continue their pursuit of sake with a flavor that evokes the scenic beauty of Hirado, and that is both old tradition and newness. We took a closer look at the one-of-a-kind sake brewing process that can only be done in this region.

Japan’s westernmost sake brewery

The city of Hirado in Nagasaki Prefecture is located at the westernmost tip of the Kyushu mainland. It is a city of the sea, consisting of Hirado Island, which stretches long and narrow from north to south across the Hirado Seto, and about 40 islands of various sizes scattered around the island. It was the first place in Nagasaki where Christianity was preached, and in the 1600s it was the only Dutch trading port in Japan.

The Fukuda Sake Brewery has been brewing sake for 330 years in Hirado, founded in 1688 by Chojiheiemon Fukuda I as a purveyor to the Hirado clan. Today, the brewery is headed by the 14th generation Fukuda Akira, and his eldest son, Tatsuya, and his second son, Shinji, are responsible for the brewing process. The Fukuda series, the company’s flagship brand, won the Platinum Award in the Junmai-shu category at Kura Master, a sake competition held in France in 2018. The junmai ginjo of the same brand won gold in the junmai daiginjo-shu and junmai ginjo categories, and has steadily increased its recognition since then, winning gold for three consecutive years.

The company also produces Daiginjyo ” Fukutsuru ” and ” Nagasaki Bijin,” as well as ” Jagataraoharu,” a shochu made from Nagasaki-grown potatoes, “Kappitan,” a long-aged shochu produced by a secret method inherited from the Nanban people, and hon mirin (Japanese rice wine).

All raw materials are produced in Hirado

The rice used to make sake is mainly Yamada-Nishiki, known as the best rice for sake brewing, and is locally grown in Hirado. The Fukuda brothers have been working with a contracted farmer to revive terraced rice paddies in the area and cultivate the rice themselves. They do not use herbicides as much as possible, and they reduce weeds by manually and mechanically stirring up the mud in the paddy fields.

In the upper reaches of the terraced rice paddies, where there are almost no houses, there is no domestic wastewater, and the rice grown in the clear water from the mountains tastes different. By growing rice within reach, we are sensitive to changes in climate and environment, and this sensibility is also utilized in sake production,” says Tatsuya, the elder brother of the family.

This year, they have also started working again with a sake rice called ” reiho,” which was widely used in the Kyushu region in the 1970s. Yamada-Nishiki has a nice aroma and a clean taste, and in many ways it is an excellent rice. Reihou is easy to grow in warm regions and is suited to the climate of Hirado, so we are taking up the challenge again. It is said to have a mild aroma and a light mouthfeel, but I am looking forward to seeing how it will taste.

For brewing water, the company uses spring water fromYasumandake, the highest peak in Hirado City, which is included in the World Heritage Site “Nagasaki and Amakusa Region Related to Submerged Christians” and is rich in virgin forest. The low mineral content of the water and its softness and purity allow for slow fermentation, resulting in a mellow sake with no harsh taste.

The warm climate of this region and the fact that it is an old brewery make it difficult to control the temperature, but several years ago they replaced some of the enameled tanks with thermal tanks (tanks with cooling systems) to withstand the sudden temperature changes during the brewing season. Tatsuya says, “Since the temperature can be controlled on a tank-by-tank basis, we can manage unrefined sake without being affected by the outside air, which makes brewing easier.

Tasting the climate of Hirado through sake

Fukutsuru” and “Nagasaki Bijin” are representative of Fukuda Shuzo’s famous sake brewed in this way. Fukutsuru,” a daiginjo-shu made from home-grown Yamada-Nishiki and fermented slowly at low temperature, has a slightly sweet taste with a fruity flavor that is popular among women.

The “Fukuda” series, which has won numerous awards at sake competitions in Japan and abroad, is another popular new product from the Fukuda Shuzo brewery. Fukuda,” says Tatsuya, “has a soft aroma that blends well with the gentle flavor of Yamada Nishiki, and it has a clean aftertaste that makes it easy to drink without interfering with food. It is also attracting attention as a food sake, which is unique to Hirado, a city with an abundance of seafood.

Potato Shochu” unique to Nagasaki

In addition to sake, Fukuda Shuzo also produces shochu. In particular, “Jagataraoharu,” a potato shochu liqueur that is rare in Japan, is a popular brand that is well known locally. When one thinks of potato production, Hokkaido comes to mind, but Nagasaki is actually the second largest producer of potatoes after Hokkaido. The shochu is made from fresh potatoes, barley, and rice malt, and carefully distilled using techniques cultivated over many years. It is rich in potassium and vitamin C, which is not easily destroyed by heating, making it popular among health-conscious people. Incidentally, “Jagatara” refers to present-day Jakarta. It is said that the “Jakarta potato” brought from Jakarta became the “potato.

The Fukuda brothers say, “We named it after the history of the potato, as well as in memory of a Nagasaki woman named ‘Oharu-san’ who was once exiled to the land of Jakarta due to the Christian ban. The sake has a mild yet subtle potato flavor, and is best enjoyed while contemplating the history of Hirado, which has come into contact with the breath of Western civilization.

KAPITAN, a secret sake stored for 10 years

The barley shochu “Kabitan ” is another unusual shochu. The flavor of the barley is extracted through traditional atmospheric distillation, then packed in oak barrels and slowly aged for 5 to 10 years in a warehouse built at the time of the company’s founding. The amber-colored, matured “KAPITAN” is a secret sake with a spicy aroma characteristic of oak barrels, a mild flavor, and a rich, natural barley taste. It is recommended to drink it on the rocks or with water like whiskey, but it is best to enjoy it with a meal, as it has a refreshing taste with few peculiarities.

Hon Mirin,” which plays a starring role rather than a supporting role

Along with the wide variety of sakes, the most impressive is ” hon mirin,” or Japanese sweet cooking rice wine, made exclusively from locally produced ingredients. Mirin is subject to liquor tax because it contains 12-15% alcohol, and since the 2011 revision of the Sake Tax Law made it easier to obtain a manufacturing license, an increasing number of local sake breweries have obtained licenses to produce mirin and are working to develop new products. Fukuda Shuzo is one such company. After graduating from university, his younger brother Shinji learned mirin production at the brewery where he had trained, and obtained a license in 2016 after returning to his hometown. He obtained a license in 2016 after returning to his hometown, and is now producing “authentic” mirin while utilizing the know-how unique to a sake brewery.

Mirin is made using only three ingredients: locally grown glutinous rice called “mochi-minori,” rice malt, and rice shochu. While many mirin are made with brewing alcohol or sugar to compensate for the lack of saccharification, Fukuda Shuzo’s mirin is made the old-fashioned way, with the sweetness of the rice slowly extracted over a period of three months. We can’t say it enough, but it makes a big difference in the quality of our food,” said Shinji. It is also good to drink,” Shinji himself assures us.

Sake brewing is made with heart and nurtured by the wind.

Fukuda Sake Brewery has been in the brewing business for more than 330 years since receiving permission from the lord of the Hirado domain to produce “Fukutsuru” sake. As I listen to the story and sip the sake, I am reminded not only of the history and culture of Hirado, but also of the scenery of Hirado, including the fields where rice is grown and the mountains where water gushes out of the ground. And the smiling faces of the brewery workers who devote themselves to sake brewing.

The determination to carry on a family business that has been in existence for more than 300 years must be extraordinary. With this strong sense of mission in mind, he continues to work hard today to make sake that will be enjoyed by many people under the motto of ” making sake that brings smiles to people’s faces.

The post Fukuda Sake Brewery, which has been conveying the terroir of Hirado, Japan’s westernmost city, for more than 300 years / Hirado City, Nagasaki Prefecture first appeared on NIHONMONO.