Welcome to Issue #78 of SIN.
This will be our final issue for 2022, and what a year it’s been.
We saw the sake scene return to about as close as it's going to get to normal, with restaurants and bars finally open at full capacity, tasting events returning, and then just a couple of months ago the sudden announcement from the government to allow tourists back into the country.
It's all been happening! Makes you wonder just how much more excitement awaits us in 2023.
Well, we won't have to wait long to find out. So in the meantime, enjoy the holiday season however you see fit - just be sure to make sake a part of it.
We wish you all the best from the SIN team and look forward to seeing you again in the New Year!
And now for the news...
Former PM's Brewery Changes Hands
Shimane- Takeshita Honten, the home of the late former Prime Minister Noboru Takeshita and producer of Taishū and Izumo Homare, announced it has sold its brewing interests to the Tabe Group, a company which operates forestry and restaurant businesses in Shimane Prefecture and outside regions. The lack of a successor to the brewery was cited as the reason for the business transfer.
The Takeshita family founded Takeshita Honten in 1866 at the end of the Edo period. Noboru Takeshita went into politics and served as prime minister from 1987 to 1989. His younger brother Saburo, 74, has served as president of Takeshita Honten since 1976. Incidentally, one of Noboru’s grandchildren is popular singer and entertainer, Daigo Naitō.
The new subsidiary, Tabe Takeshita, was established in June 2022 and the sale of the brewery completed in November.
The company will continue brewing sake on the same site, with plans to build new, updated facilities in the coming years. Sales of Taishū and Izumo Homare have been halted, as new brands will be launched to reflect the change of direction.
The Takeshita Noboru Memorial Museum and the Kakeya Sake Brewery Museum, which are adjacent to the brewery and managed by Unnan City, will remain open.
Source - SMBIZ Asahi
JG: Another era within the sake world comes to a close! In truth there are many sake brewing families that are also involved in politics, showing how influential they have been over the decades. It is good to see that they will continue to brew sake, and it is interesting to note that yet another sake brewery will see ownership pass from the original owning family, an increasingly common occurrence.
竹下本店 , 田部竹下酒造 , 出雲誉 , 大衆
All Of Japan In One Bottle
Fukushima- On November 19, the pressing of Kizuna Mai, a sake made with a blend of rice sourced from all 47 prefectures, was held at Akebono Shuzō (maker of Tenmei) to promote regional cooperation and support reconstruction efforts in the disaster-stricken area. The sake was officially released at the opening ceremony of the "Good Work Okoshi Fair", which opened in Tokyo on December 6.
The "Oshikoshi Sake Project," which produces Kizuna Mai, is in its sixth year under the sponsorship of the "Good Work Development" Fair Executive Committee.
Three types of sake make up the Kizuna Mai series: Kasui, a pasteurized junmai daiginjō sake; Sosui, an unpasteurized namazake; and Gokusui, a kijōshu (brewed with sake instead of water). Kizuna mai is drip-pressed shizuku. One hundred yen from each bottle sold will be donated to disaster relief efforts.
Source - Minpo
JG: This obviously called for a lot of effort and background work too. And the concept is interesting enough to lead to sake that is likely popular enough to achieve the stated goal: to help unite everyone in support of reconstruction.
曙酒造（天明）, 佳酔（かすい) , 爽酔（そうすい）, 極酔（ごくすい）
Toyama Welcomes Its First Female Toji
Toyama- Yukari Iwase has joined the ranks as one of Japan's slowly-but-surely increasing number of female toji - and the first for Toyama Prefecture.
Born in Wakayama Prefecture, Iwase studied fermentation technology at Hiroshima University. In her senior years, she attended NRIB to learn the finer points of sake brewing and upon graduation she began working in the industry as a brewer.
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