This historic brewery was founded in 1647. It is not content to rely on its history and past achievements and has instead forged a path in a new direction. The brewery’s innovative and “back to basic “motto heralds in a new era of being meticulous about the base raw material of sake, namely the rice. Just as in the case of winemaking and being focused on the grape, Banjo Jozo is aiming to express the original character of rice which is shaped by the land and the climate of the rice vintage.
It is very rare in Japan, but they own the land on which they grow the rice which shapes their sake and they have created a Domaine style brewery. This is also mirrored by their efforts in France where they make fine wine in Burgundy, which is the highest wine production region in the world. Titled Kuheiji both their sake and wine have an elegant acidity as a common characteristic. They believe that both rice and grapes cultivated to strict standards and tended with greatest care will yield the best quality result in both sake and wine.
The current owner of the brewery is the 15th generation, Kuheiji Kuno, and the brewery has been growing their own rice in Hyogo prefecture since 2010. The historic and original brewery is in Nagoya, Aichi prefecture and the brewery transports its core ingredients to this site for production.
Their core belief is “It all starts in the rice fields”.
