Welcome to Issue #98 of SIN.
The brewing season is underway for most breweries and the countdown is on until the pressings of the first shiboritate for 2023, which we'll be seeing in a matter of weeks.
In the meantime, there's still plenty of hiyaoroshi going around, so if you have the means, get out there and enjoy it while it lasts.
And now for the news...
Iwate Joins The GI Club
Iwate- The latest prefecture to be awarded GI (geographical indication) status was announced on October 10.
Iwate Prefecture's recognition comes as the seventh designation for a prefecture and the fourteenth overall for seishu. The "Geographical Indications (GI) system" is an international system, which protects regional brands of food and other products as intellectual property. If a given product passes a specific evaluation screening process, it may be labeled with a GI logo to differentiate it from other brands.
On the day of the announcement, the Iwate Prefectural Sake Brewers Association held a press conference to reveal the Iwate GI logo seal, which was inspired by the mountains of Iwate and the World Heritage site of Hiraizumi.
Shuntaro Matsuoka, Chairman of the Prefectural Sake Brewers Association said of the announcement, "We hope this recognition will help bolster the sales of Iwate sake overseas."
JG: Japan continues to add more and more GI designations in the domestic alcoholic beverage industry. I guess it is better to have them than to not have them as they draw attention to sake, but it may get increasingly challenging to find reasons to designate more regions or prefectures with that status. Hm.
Pukupuku Is Coming Coming
Fukushima- A new craft sake brewery is on the horizon as Tetsuya Tachikawa prepares to begin brewing in a new fixed location within the next twelve months.
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