A brewery founded in the Meiji era
The Akita Sake Brewery’s previous incarnation was the Kunimanzai Sake Brewery, founded in 1908 by Shinsuke Kawaguchi. It was named in celebration of victory in the Russo-Japanese war. Later incorporated, it has since been producing sake under the Akita Sake Brewery name up to the present day.
The concept behind the Hare nochi Hare label
With its colourful and cute label design, this item goes against the stereotypical image of sake as an overly ceremonious and old-fashioned drink.
Hare nochi Hare’s fresh aromas and easy-drinking style, reminiscent of the invigorating feeling of opening your front door and seeing a clear blue sky, are reflected in the label’s carefully crafted colour scheme.
The Akita dog on the label, staring up at the blue sky with its innocent, round eyes, symbolizes the sake’s clarity and its optimistic outlook.
A beautiful new day has dawned, and tomorrow will be even better. That’s the kind of positive feeling we want to share with this label.
Araya, the home of “Akitabare”
Araya is the home of the Akita Sake Brewery, a district within the city of Akita.
Located on the Omogawa estuary and a common mooring site for ships, it wasa good place to source good quality sake rice, cultivated upstream. In its heyday as many as 12 breweries were located there, to say nothing of the miso and soy sauce breweries scattered around the landscape – Araya was a flourishing centre for brewing in all its forms.
What’s more, Araya is blessed with abundant reserves of groundwater, accessed by wells or bubbling forth from springs – a key natural resource that has supported the sake industry there.
Sake brewed from this water is known as “Akibare sake” (sake that can be enjoyed with bottle ageing) and is enjoyed as an everyday tipple by locals.
Hare nochi Hare is born from this historic terroir with its noted water and excellent supply of rice.
The story of Akita’s original sake rice, Gin-no-Sei
In response to growing demand to make rice that was both unique to Akita Prefecture and suited to the production of Ginjo sake, Akita’s agricultural research institute began the development of Gin-no-Sei in 1983, with the cultivar formally registered in 1993.
The current brewery president’s grandfather was involved in Gin-no-Sei’s development, and the brewery continues to use the variety to this day.
The young generation brewing sake for a new era
The first vintage of Hare nochi Hare was made in 2020, the same year in which the Akita Sake Brewery’s Mitsugu Katou stepped down as Toji, with Iwao Kodate taking over the reins.
Hare nochi Hare is the work of a young generation: a collaboration carefully laid out between Iwao Kodate at the outset of his new career, and Mottox, where the average employee is just 30 years old.
While still respecting the good old-fashioned traditions, new sensibilities and modern values are incorporated to make a sake for a new era.
