Established in 1717 and located in Uonuma city (Niigata prefecture), one of the snowiest regions in Japan, the Aoki Brewery is brewing sake for over 300 years.
While Niigata prefecture is famous for Tanrei-Karakuchi, the light, elegant and dry sake style, Aoki Brewery is aiming to create Tanrei-Umakuchi, remaining the pure umami of sake rice.

Well accompanied with Uonuma cuisine, strongly flavored with salt and soy sauce for the locals who work in earnest with sweat, and to preserve fish and vegetables during the long winter, their products such as Cup Sake Yuki Otoko own the sharp and delicate Niigata sake characteristics. But at the same time Aoki Brewery is aiming to bring out the best of the aftertaste of umami of the rice itself, which gives their products fresh and new taste every time you enjoy.

Baird Brewing Company started out very small. Bryan and Sayuri Baird quit their jobs and head to the Pacific Northwest, one of the leading areas of craft beer, to study brewing. Four years later (2001) the brewery, based in port city Numazu in Shizuoka prefecture, was founded as the smallest brewery in Japan to obtain a license. Today this beer is a representative Japanese craft beer, recognized in Japan and popular around the world, like Canada, Australia and New Zealand, Singapore, Hong Kong and now Switzerland.

Baird Beer is unfiltered and fermented twice, once in package. Examples of their minimal processing approach include the exclusive use of whole flower hops (no pellets or extracts), to produce beer that is naturally carbonated and which remains alive and evolving right up to the point of consumer enjoyment.

‘Our goal in the crafting of every Baird Beer is maximum character. We define character as the interplay of balance and complexity. The more character a beer exudes, the more capable it’s of making us happy. Character-laden Baird Beer makes people happy.’

Baird Beer is honest, natural and unpretentious, like the people who craft it. The unique aroma is sophisticated, brisk and fruity, perfect for connoisseurs.

At the time of founding the Beniotome brewery about three hundred years ago in Tanushimaru (Fukuoka) and at the time when shochu was still considered a cheap alcoholic beverage, the founder, Haruno Hayashida, set a goal: she wanted to put all her passion and energy into producing premium alcohols that could be incorporated with Western spirits.

The result was a new type of spirit with a sesame base: sesame-shochu. The premium drop Beniotome Gold bears the red rose, the trademark of the Beniotome brewery, with pride.

In all of its stages of production, the Beniotome brewery only uses clear and mild water, which is sourced from between the rocks of the Mino Mountain range in the south of the Fukuoka Prefecture.

The distilled shochu are stored in earthenware vessels, steel tanks or French oak casks at the foot of the Mino Mountains and mature until they have acquired their characteristic pleasant and mild flavour. Beniotome allows its sesame shochu to mature over several years so that, depending on the type of maturation, the taste of cognac or brandy is perceptible in the final product.

The Gekkeikan Brewery was found in 1637 in Fushimi, a district of the former capital Kyoto, and enjoys an excellent reputation worldwide.

According to the guiding principle ‘quality, creativity and humanity’ the Gekkeikan Brewery is extremely anxious to combine Japanese tradition and modernity. That is reflected by continuous development of its products.

Sake as a cultural heritage along with the lifestyle of today’s customers – in Japan as well as worldwide.

Grace Rum stands for highest quality rum with solely local ingredients from Minami Daito (Okinawa), a solitary and pristine island south of Kyushu.
Innovative products such as the still young CorCor rum (since summer 2006) are characterized by their distinctive character and taste.

Because Grace Rum uses only the very best fresh sugar cane, the annual production quantity varies and is limited therefore.

In Switzerland, CorCor Red and CorCor Agricole are exclusively available at shizuku.

Founded in 1673 in Yonago (Tottori), Inata Honten brews sake based on the motto ‚sake is brewed from the heart’. The very small company impresses with sake that also serve very well as food companions. One example is the Goriki Junmai Ginjo that is brewed out of Goriki rice which is cultivated in Tottori prefecture only.

Next to the rice, Inata Honten focuses on highest quality. They use soft water that has its source in the mountain shades of Daisen and is rich in calcium and magnesium.

Due to the deeply-routed mythology (Izumo myth), Inata Honten calls most of its products ‚Inatahime’ which means ‚princess of the rice field’.

The Kiku Masamune Brewery was found in 1659 and helds fast to the ideal of authentic dry sake of premium quality.
The Brewery gives high attention to sake pairing, focuses on the traditional kimoto method since its 350th jubilee (2009) and produces masterly complex and full-bodied sake that are excellent food companions.

The products of Kiku Masamune Brewery are captivating due to their pure flavour and a crisp, clean finish.

Their taruzake which ripen in wooden barrels convince by a delicate and calming cedar flavour, like the Kiku Masamune Taru Sake.

The Kinmon Akita Sake brewery brews according to three basic principles: umami of rice, maturing and blending. It was in 1973 when the brewery as we know it today was founded. However, its history dates back to 1936.

Passing down its knowledge and passion from generation to generation, Kinmon Akita Sake Brewery deepens its engagement with the food tradition in every single product.

‚Thinking of it a step further, sake-making is actually a quest for discovering an unvisited savor which goes beyond the evaluation of sake's taste alone. While carrying on the roots of Japanese sake, we would never stop searching for a break-through to an unknown sphere of savor by aged sake, a kind of sake containing 'umami' that no one else can imitate.’

‘If we make good sake, people will support it.’ That’s been their motto since Kokuryu was founded in 1804 in the mountains of Fukui, an ancient land, nestled between snowy peaks and the Sea of Japan.

From a long tradition of sake brewing, Kokuryu today stands as one of this region’s few survivors and they strive for the best in brewing and maturation, hand-crafting only the highest-caliber sakes in small batches.
Their water starts as snow on the high reaches of the Hakusan mountains and they polish only the highest grades of sake rice, chief among them the prized Yamadanishiki from Hyogo prefecture’s Tojo region and Fukui's own Gohyakumangoku rice.

As a regional brewery, their goal is to highlight the flavors of regional ingredients like fresh seafood, means sakes which don't overpower food. On top inspired by the methods of wine maturation in France, which they applied to sake, they brew rich products with elegant flavours and a silky feel.

Founded in 1883 in Hioki (Kagoshima) Komasa produces premium quality and highly regarded shochu and liqueurs and may call itself proudly pioneer of matured shochu such as its flagship product Mellowed Kozuru Excellence.

Komasa distillery stands for quality. The company philosophy ‚making shochu is about making people smile’ empowers and motivates this innovative distillery to bring to market new and fascinating products repeatedly.

From 1550, the Konishi Brewery in Itami brewed according to the tagline: “We create flavours, we create bliss”. Although it places a lot of importance on tradition, the Konishi Brewery knows how to bridge the gap between the past and the modern age in a clever way.

The Konishi Brewery is a significant player in the Japanese domestic market, but it would also like to reach out to consumers throughout the world with its excellent products.

The Masuda Tokubee Brewery was founded prior to 1675 and is known for its Nigorizake throughout Japan. As one of the oldest breweries in Fushimi (Kyoto), it provides supplies to the Imperial Court amongst other notable places, and it relaunched sparkling sake, a rather fledgling product in the production of sake.

The Masuda Tokubee Brewery is known throughout Japan as the originator of Nigorizake. Compared with most sake, unfiltered Nigorizake is not pasteurised before bottling. This allows the season to have an influence on the product, and it lends Nigorizake its unique character. This aktive Nigori went on sale in Japan for the first time in 1961, and throughout the country, the different levels of quality are very popular.

The Nakashima brewery, a small family brewery in the mountains of Gifu prefecture, already tells an over 300 years old history. It was in the middle of Edo period in 1702, when the founder brewed the first Kozaemon. With the purpose to cultivate the lands along Toki River and to raise the value of rice grown here, the residents brew with a lot of passion and conviction since the very beginning.

A huge number of those small sake breweries, called ‘Jizake’ (or micro or boutique breweries), had to abandon the field to big and powerful companies dominating the sake making. Not this little pearl. Nakashima Brewery made their way and is still brewing sake with a rich sophisticated taste, enjoyed and valued by local people and overseas.

Founded in 1645 in Kyoto city (Japan’s original capital between 794 - 1868) Shotoku Brewery was then transferred to the Fushimi district just south of Kyoto in 1925 to take advantage of the superior water on site.

Shotoku Brewery buys sake rice for years from a particular farm located close to Kyoto. This farm engages in organic cultivation free from pesticides and ensure a stable and high quality of their products therefore.

With 370 years of experience the small team brews authentic products without any additives.

The Yatsushika Brewery has been brewing for 150 years and every drop of beer is full of tradition and innovation.
Founded in 1864 in Oita (Kyushu), Yatsushika Brewery follows the motto that its sake 'can always be drunk happily, anywhere and without worries'.
This motto is also carried by themselves and lived in their own company. Under the principle of mutual education and development, from the youngest employee to the head of the company, sincerity, friendliness and peace come first.

They know from experience that the professionalism of every single person is indispensable for a long and successful history. And this professionalism is also reflected in their products, their Sparkling Sake Yatsushika Sparkling Niji was awarded with the Gold Medal in 2019 by the jury of the International Wine Challenge (IWC), the world's best and most carefully judged wine competition.

'We believe in the power of nature'. With this philosophy, Yorozuya has been brewing delicious sake since 1790, with a passion for skilfully bringing out the umami taste of rice in their nihonshu.

With their 'Jizake' (local artisanal sake), they place great emphasis on their three local strengths: The sake rice, the water and the people they have worked with for years.

They use water from the local spring, the Southern Alps Mountains in Yamanashi Prefecture, including water from Mount Fuji-san. The rice used is grown by local farmers. And special: during the sake brewing season, these farmers come to the brewery to discuss the quality of this year's rice with the head brewers and help with the brewing. Nowadays, there are only a few breweries in Japan that work like this.

Their star in the range is The Shunnouten, translated as 'The chirping of the nightingale announcing spring', an elegant, fresh and fruity sake with a crisp and pure umami flavour.