Sasanokawa Brewery

Sasanokawa Brewery has been brewing sake in Koriyama since the Edo period and has recently gained attention as one of the Tohoku region's leading local whisky makers. In 1998, Toshiko Yamaguchi, who married the current 10th generation brewery head Shoji Yamaguchi, joined the company as Managing Director. Until then, she had been running her family's long-established bento shop in the city, managing a hectic kitchen that produced many kinds of bento boxes every day with brisk efficiency.

When she first joined, she says, "It was hard to shake off my old habits." Compared to the kitchen where she battled the clock daily to produce hundreds of bentos, the brewery seemed as if time had stood still.

Sake is brewed once a year. Rather than being "made" by human hands, it is "created" at the pace of microbes. She reflects that it took several years for her to grow accustomed to this flow of time and atmosphere.

Toka: Her First Brew, 10 Years After Joining

Soon after joining the brewery, Toshiko was amazed by the deliciousness of freshly-pressed unpasteurized sake. Wanting to share this fresh flavor with consumers, she developed "Sasanokawa Kesa-shibori," a product where the freshly-pressed sake sells out the same day it hits the shelves. It has become a hugely popular limited-edition item, available by reservation only from December through February (or March).

Toshiko also began to appear at events, conscious of her role as the public face of Sasanokawa, but she felt she knew nothing about her own craft. At Shoji's recommendation, she enrolled in the "Fukushima Sake Academy". After graduating and becoming a skilled brewing technician, in her 10th year with the company, she was put in charge of a 1.2-ton tank to create a new product. The brand born from this effort was "Toka." It became popular for its gentle sweetness and soft aroma, reminiscent of Fukushima's famous peaches.

She was appointed Toji in 2016. In her first year, she spent sleepless nights creating the brewing plan and fell ill from the immense pressure. In her second year, her sake won a gold prize in the Junmai category at the Fukushima Prefecture Sake Awards. She now works in tandem with veteran Nanbu Toji Hiroshi Sasaki, taking on new challenges such as releasing Sasanokawa Fukushimaichi Karakuchi ICHI, the driest sake in Fukushima. "Moving forward, I want to pursue the kind of sake that only Sasanokawa can make and establish a next-generation 'Sasanokawa Style'."