Emishiki
Shiga, Japan
Niigata used to be known as the best sake brewery in Japan. CEO Atsunori is from there and was trained as a sake brewer. However, he became the fifth generation to take over his wife’s family’s brewery, proving that the best sake can be made in Shiga Prefecture. First of all, he is one of Japan’s top master brewer. Many breweries, and even though they have the know-how to make sake, not all of them can control the taste as they aim. Of course, sake is a natural product, and there are many things we cannot control, but he has the skills, knowledge, and experience to do so. Atsunori laughs, “Fortunately I have experienced many mistakes and know how to recover from them.”
They do everything with Kimoto (the most labor intensive) technique. The reason why they started doing Kimoto is that they wanted to make elegant sake yet strong. Because he saw that many exported sake were sold in bad condition and were tasted totally different. To prevent this situation, instead of adding additives, he changed his method to make stronger sake : Kimoto technique which maintains its quality even it’s exported.
Atsunori started sake making career when he was 16. He went to a sake making speciality high school and graduated from a top university for it (Tokyo University of agriculture). When he took over Emishiki in 2007, it was almost bankrupt. But he threw many machines away and created a small factory with small investment, he successfully made amazing sake with the facility he made. And Emishiki’s performance has been a V-shaped recovery quickly. Now even they hire more young people to train and create a new brewing industry that attracts a young generation.
