Nadagogo Sake Tour

Since Japan is best known for its sake, the Nadagogo (five districts of Nada) sake district is a great place to begin our tour. Every sake brewery will tell you that great sake starts with two critical ingredients, rice and water, and Nada is blessed with both of those. Yamada Nishiki rice, the best rice for sake production, is grown here in Hyogo Prefecture. The water flowing from underground springs known as Miyamizu is rich in minerals, lending the sake a crisp, dry flavor.

As a result of these natural blessings along with local brewmasters who have honed their skills and knowledge over generations, Nada is home to many famous sake breweries with long histories. Several of these breweries have their own museums explaining the history of sake brewing in Nada along with the unique points of their brewery.

One of these is Hakutsuru, one of Japan's well-known producers of sake, umeshu (plum wine), cooking wine, and cosmetics. Hakatsuru's museum is housed in the brewery's oldest production building and looks deceptively small from the outside. Once inside, however, life-sized dioramas of the production process and videos dubbed in English walk you through Hakutsuru's history and production process. With film footage shot in an era before machines did the brunt of the work, the museum provides a fascinating glimpse into how sake production has changed over the decades, as well as how it remains much the same.

Like all good museums, the route ends in the company's shop, where you can purchase most of the company's primary products and other locally produced souvenirs.

Sakurao Distillery

The Sakurao Distillery is deeply rooted in Hiroshima's history, operating as a major shochu liquor and sake producer since 1918. For their 100th anniversary in 2018, the company announced a new direction for the future, launching Sakurao Gin, made with local botanicals from the Hiroshima area. In 2021, they followed up with two distinctly different brands of single malt whiskies, both produced within Hiroshima Prefecture. Complying with stricter standards recently implemented for the "Japanese whisky" brand, Sakurao is also producing grain whisky, and making its whiskies entirely locally produced.

You'll want to stop by their unique location on the waterfront, where you can see a clear view of Miyajima Island across the water. Besides tastings, you can book a distillery tour with an English-speaking guide and discover the innovative ways Sakurao has created truly local whiskies and gins, using unusual ingredients that are part of Hiroshima's culture and history.

Doppokan

Founded by Miyashita Sake Brewery, Doppokan pioneered Japan's national craft beer movement and was the first brewery in their region to produce craft beers. Although Doppokan uses traditional German-style methods, they are innovating by using locally grown ingredients, including Okayama-grown peaches and muscat grapes, with which they brew fruit beers.

Over time, Doppokan expanded into other spirits, including whisky, gin, and vodka. A brief tour of the facility can be booked in advance.

However, one thing visitors to Doppokan should not miss out on is its restaurant, Shusei no Kagayaki. Modeled after a whisky pub, the chefs offer some deliciously imaginative dishes that pair well with Doppokan's spirits and make creative use of Okayama's famous local ingredients. As Okayama is known as the "Fruit Kingdom," you'll find different fruits used for both color and flavor, as well as a bounty of seafood from the Inland Sea.

Ohmine Shuzo

The neon sign that greets you at the entrance of Ohmine Shuzo reads "1822 Born, 1955 Dead, 2010-2018 Reborn Against Sake World." That sums up the non-conformist attitude of the folks at Ohmine Shuzo, where the brewery itself could pass for a modern art museum.

The minimalist black-and-white structure stands in contrast to the lush green rice paddy beside it, a reminder that although Ohmine Shuzo is strictly modern in its approach to sake, it still honors the tried and true basics of the craft: great rice and great water equal great sake.

The water in question comes from a natural spring a few kilometers from the brewery, nicknamed the "Water of the gods" for its extreme purity and softness, and the rice, the famous Yamada Nishiki, is an organically grown local variety. Ohmine's sweet and rich flavor has caught people's attention and has been served to world leaders at World Economic Forum meetings and patrons of Michelin three-star restaurants worldwide.

Visitors to the Akiyoshidai karst or Akiyoshido limestone caverns will already be near the brewery, so take a short detour and stop by to sample this delicious sake for yourself. Or if you're driving, try the smooth coffee made with the "Water of the gods" or a scoop of ice cream flavored with Ohmine sake lees.

Rise & Win Brewery

For curious visitors to Kamikatsu, the little mountain town of Tokushima on the cutting edge of the zero-waste initiative, it will be impossible to miss Rise & Win Brewery. Standing tall and red along the main road with an eclectic wall of recycled windows, you can tell immediately that this isn't your typical craft beer brewery.

And yet, in some ways it is, producing several major types of its Kamikatz Beer, plus some seasonal types and barrel-aged varieties. However, each beer contains some sustainable or local ingredient, such as their White Beer, made with the peels of Kamikatsu's yukou citrus fruit, or their eye-catching Indigo Dye Beer, an homage to Tokushima's traditional aizome indigo-dyeing.

You'll also find some significant differences in the production process, as Rise & Win aims to be a zero-waste company aligned with the goals of the town it resides in. The byproducts of beer production, namely malt dregs, are processed into fertilizer which is used to grow wheat, which is used for, you guessed it, making beer. This "regenerative loop" of beer production is one of Rise & Win's innovations.

Yet when you visit Rise & Win, don't expect a stern lecture about sustainability or zero waste. The priority here is to produce a beer that people love to drink, and a comfortable and welcoming environment to enjoy it in. So make a reservation for a barbeque meal in advance and enjoy it with a deliciously cold Kamikatz Beer with the peace of mind that it's being produced with a minimal environmental footprint.

Kinryo Sake Museum

Located on the approach to Konpira Shrine, a major attraction in Kagawa Prefecture, the Kinryo Sake Museum is housed in a large complex that was once storehouses for the Kotohira Brewery that produced the sacred sake used by the shrine. As the main street leading to the shrine can get crowded, ducking into the museum's peaceful courtyard is an excellent place to take a rest before going inside. From the courtyard, you can admire the well-preserved buildings and the mighty camphor tree they encircle.

The museum is designed to take visitors through the step-by-step process of sake production, paying particular attention to the laborious nature of the work before machinery was created to take over the more labor intensive processes. One station explains how men would stomp on the rice in ice-cold water with their bare feet for hours on end to remove the husks. This was done in the dead of winter, aligned with the best time of the year to produce sake. Even in modern times, it is easy to imagine how difficult and painful this process must have been.

Another station talks about the extreme things workers would do to remain awake for days on end to ensure someone could watch the sake at all times for changes in temperature or consistency. The audio is available in English and other major languages, and brief descriptions in each language are printed on placards at each station.

Of course, there is a standard gift shop where you can purchase sake and other goods that you will be able to appreciate all the more for the enormous amount of effort and persistence that went into making the sake we can enjoy today.

Minakuchi Shuzo

Founded in 1895 and one of the oldest sake breweries in Ehime Prefecture, Minakuchi Shuzo is perhaps best known today for its signature Dogo Beer, which is served in nearly every drinking establishment in Dogo Onsen. The brand is closely associated with the main Dogo Onsen hot springs facility and has successfully marketed their products to bathers who need a bit of refreshment after their baths and turned it into a sort of informal tradition.

The brewery, shop, and tatami-floored tasting rooms are located in a Meiji-era shophouse just a few minutes walk from Dogo Onsen Station. Tours are available by reservation, but the content of the tour largely depends on what part of the production cycle the sake is in. Even if you forgo the tour, the building offers lovers of beer, sake, and ciders a comfortable place to enjoy a tasting or pick up a few souvenirs of beverages or small local crafts from the gift shop.

From traditional sake to innovative craft beers, Setouchi is home to some of Japan's best and most unique producers of alcohol. These breweries, shops and restaurants, along with many others, look forward to sharing their products with the rest of the world, so why not add a few of these places to your Setouchi itinerary on your next trip to Japan? Cheers!

Photographs and text by Todd Fong