One of Japan’s newest and most sought after sake breweries Kamikawa Taisetsu was formed in 2017 and has grown in recent years to have three separate brewing facilities in different areas of Hokkaido.
The first flagship brewery called “Ryokku-gura” was established in northern-most Kamikawa cho. The second brewery – “Hekiun-gura” was built on the campus of Obihiro University of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine in Tokachi in 2020 and is the very first Japanese sake brewery to have an academic collaboration. The third brewery “Goryo-no-Kura” was established in Hakodate in 2021.
The brewery is focused on using only Hokkaido sake specific rice grown by trusted local farmers and the pristine water derived from springs fed by snow melt. Kamikawa Taisetsu wants to make small batch, high quality junmai sake using traditional methods to please the appetite of local people. 90% of production is consumed within Hokkaido and the majority of the remainder is sought after in Tokyo with a very small quantity exported. The aim of the brewery is to promote Hokkaido’s regionality in sake and introduce this to the rest of Japan and ultimately further afield.
