Established in the sixth year of Meiji, 1873. Niizawa Sake Brewery have been brewing Atagonomatsu since their founding, and it continues to be loved by their local community. Atagonomatsu was also famously the subject of an ode written by the Japanese poet Bansui Doi.
The current president, fifth-generation Iwao Niizawa, became Miyagi Prefecture’s youngest brewmaster in 2000 and created the Hakurakusei brand in 2001. In a time where there were only words in the Japanese lexicon for a pre-meal or post-meal drink, Niizawa, through Hakurakusei, pioneered the idea that there should also be a food-pairing sake-shokuchushu in Japanese, a saké that intensifies the flavours in the dishes it is paired with. Hakurakusei, brewed under the concept of the ultimate food-pairing saké, can now be enjoyed in Michelin-starred restaurants in Japan and around the world.
