Niidahonke

A thirty-minute drive from Koriyama Station, through mountain roads overlooking a patchwork of fields, brings a large sake vat into view, painted with the characters for 'Shizenshu'--natural sake. This is the mark of Niidahonke, founded in 1711 (Shotoku 1). It is a truly 'natural' brewery, crafting its sake from 'natural rice' grown without pesticides or chemical fertilizers, using the town's natural water and yeasts that live within the brewery walls.

The 18th-generation head, Yasuhiko Niida, became the brewery's first-ever owner-brewer in 2010. The flagship brand of Niidahonke, 'Niidashizenshu', is made from this natural rice. It is a sake that was first created in 1967 (Showa 42) by the 17th generation, under the name 'Kinpo Shizenshu'.

For its brewing water, the brewery selectively uses two natural sources depending on the desired quality of the sake: the 'Takenouchi Well Water,' drawn from a well near the company’s own paddies, and the 'Mizunuki Spring Water,' which flows from the company's mountain. Takayuki Naito, the brewery's Sales Director, speaks of this legacy. "This water was left to us by the previous generations."

"The 16th-generation head was not only a brewer but also a forester. He planted and nurtured trees on the mountain, and in doing so, he cultivated this abundant water. Today, all our water needs, from washing rice to cleaning tanks, are met by this natural source. Managing the nearly 100 hectares of mountain to protect this water is a crucial part of our mission."

Even the wooden brewing house in use today was a feat of the 17th generation, who had it relocated from Kitakata City in the Showa 50s (c. 1975-1984). The Niidahonke of today exists only because each generation of family heads embraced challenges, always thinking of the future and of the community as a whole.

The Dream: A Completely Self-Sufficient Brewery

In 2003, the 18th-generation head, Yasuhiko, began cultivating rice himself through natural methods, aspiring to pass on even one more healthy, naturally farmed rice field to the future. In the brewery's fields in the Kanazawa district of Tamura Town, the entire brewery team joins forces to cultivate sake rice. Then, in 2020, a new challenge began: crafting their own wooden vats from cedar harvested on their own mountain. The plan is to build one new vat each year, systematically replacing the current enamel tanks.

Brewing sake with only that which this land provides gives birth to a one-of-a-kind, inimitable creation. One cannot help but wonder... what flavors of sake will be flowing from Niidahonke in ten, or even twenty, years' time? The anticipation is palpable.