Sake Brewing & Town Revitalization at Nabedana Brewery
Dec 01,2022
Dec 01,2022
Nabedana Incorporated began brewing its saké with its own staff handling every process in 1997. For over 25 years since that intrepid move, the company’s employees have come in early every morning focused on a single purpose: continuing to brew saké that connects the hearts of those who love Japanese saké.
For this article, we spoke with Otsuka Kan, the 19th generation owner of Nabedana Incorporated. Otsuka was the driving force behind the Kozaki Saké Festival, which led Kozaki, the least populated town in Chiba, to be known as the Hakko-no Sato [literally meaning the “Village of Fermentation”]. He was also very involved in the creation of the highway rest stop Hakko-no Sato Kozaki. We discussed the traditional saké brewing process of this long-established brewery and the future he envisions for the town of Kozaki.
At 8 a.m., inside a building along National Route 356 in Kozaki in Chiba’s Katori District, where large characters spelling out Jinyu — one of the brewery’s signature products — are painted on the white walls, the signs of people busy at work are already evident. Thick steam billows up, people in white coats hurry back and forth, and the sound of water echoes from somewhere. Mornings at a saké brewery start early.
Nabedana’s founding dates back to 1689, the time of Tokugawa Tsunayoshi, the fifth shogun of the Tokugawa dynasty.
“We were granted a saké brewery license by the then-Sakura Domain and initially began brewing in front of the Narita-san Shinsho-ji temple,” says Otsuka Kan, the 19th-generation owner, as he gazes up at a signboard displayed during the brewery’s formative years. “I’ve been told that the unique ‘Nabedana’ name was coined as a portmanteau of ‘Nabeza’, the name of an organization holding iron-production rights, and ‘tana’, meaning a well-established shop.”
Otsuka Kan, the 19th-generation owner and CEO of Nabedana Incorporated
Otsuka graduated from a university in the United States and worked at a Japanese trading company before taking over the brewery in 1993.
“I never once thought about taking over the brewery when I was young. I got a job in the middle of the bubble economy, so I was flying all over the world, working on the acquisition of hotels and golf courses and the restructuring of resort companies around the globe.”
Just as his corporate career was taking off, the brewery fell on hard times. When the bubble economy burst, consumption of saké plummeted and overall company sales began to drop off. His cousin, the managing director, urged Otsuka to come and run the brewery together. Feeling that he couldn’t let the brewery go under, he decided to take over the business.
Nabedana’s Jinyu — characterized by a soft, but rich, flavor — and Fudo — in which you can sense the brewers’ dedication to their craft — have won numerous awards at saké competitions
After taking over the brewery, Otsuka’s first order of business was to craft distinctive saké products.
Seeing no path to higher sales by just producing mass-market saké like countless other regional breweries, Otsuka thought: Why not produce saké from scratch entirely in-house and offer it as a value-added product? Acting on this idea, he discontinued the practice of bringing in an outside master toji brewer, who takes charge of the saké-brewing process, and implemented a shift to 100 percent in-house production.
Today, it is not unusual for saké breweries to brew saké without relying on a toji, but it was a remarkably progressive approach in the late 1990s. Conventional breweries typically hired toji with extensive experience from established toji groups like the Echigo Toji (based mainly in Niigata Prefecture) or the Nanbu Toji (based mainly in Iwate Prefecture), and brewed saké under the toji’s direction.
Otsuka began his saké-brewing challenge in 1997 with four employees. While 80 percent of their production was devoted to regular saké, the company created Fudo, a limited-distribution premium saké targeting the high-end market. Nabedana’s aim was to avoid price competition with large breweries, with this exclusive product sold only at select retailers, while enhancing the brewery’s brand value.
Otsuka’s unconventional, free-thinking approach gave rise to unique challenges, but his thinking was shaped by his experiences at other private enterprises. It turned out to be a brilliant move, almost as if he foresaw the problems arising around the year 2000 that would engulf saké breweries: a shortage of toji, as many aged out without leaving successors, coupled with a decline in wholesalers and retailers.
In the subsequent sections, we will follow the basic saké-brewing steps seen on Nabedana Incorporated’s production floor.
After polishing and thoroughly washing the rice, it is left to soak and slowly absorb water for an hour. Nabedana uses quite a few rice varieties that are specially grown for saké brewing. These include the local Chiba varieties Tsubusuke and Fusa-no-mai as well as Suisei from Hokkaido, Akitasake-komachi from Akita, and Dewasansan from Yamagata. The soaking times vary depending on the characteristics of the rice variety and the milling ratio.
A heart was traced in the rice, perhaps by a playful employee
The rice is steamed in a large vat. As soon as the steaming is finished, employees descend on the vat en masse and begin transferring the steamed rice to buckets that they carry by hand to the next stage.
The work is extremely well coordinated. This is because the steamed rice is used to create the koji mold, the shubo fermentation starter, and the moromi fermentation mash.
Employees carry the steamed rice by hand to the wooden-floored second floor, where the steamed rice is spread out to cool on gauze-like cheesecloths placed on slatted boards.
Speed is essential when spreading out the piping-hot rice. As soon as employees finish spreading out their bucket of rice, they immediately dash down the stairs to carrying up the next bucket of steamed rice.
Preparations are complete for making the shubo when the koji-infused rice, lactic acid bacteria, yeast, and cooled steamed rice are added to a tank containing purified water. The mixture is stirred while maintaining the optimal temperature to propagate the yeast and create the base for the saké.
The shubo is transferred to another tank to which purified water, koji-infused rice, and steamed rice are added. This prepares the moromi. Over 20 to 30 days, the moromi slowly ferments and matures, releasing the pure, unadulterated aroma of saké.
Once the maturation is complete, the saké is separated from the saké lees either with a filter press or hand press. Hand-pressing takes more time, but it is essential when a delicate finish is desired.
The saké, after heating and sterilization, is stored in thermal tanks or refrigerators for at least six months. Once bottled and labeled, the saké is finally ready. The labels, angled to resemble a kimono sash, are carefully applied by hand.
The brewery operates a store in front of the brewery proper called Nabeya Gengoemon Kozaki Higashi Gura-ten. Here you can sample many products, including Jinyu and Fudo, and search for your preferred taste before purchasing.
Even within the Jinyu and Fudo lines, you can find a wide variety of tastes, from bold, dry saké with a deep richness that embodies the essence of saké to mildly sweet saké and even fruity saké with a smooth mouthfeel. The possibilities of saké make the heart race.
Wanting to showcase the saké and the attractions of Kozaki, Otsuka spearheaded the founding of the Hakko-no Sato Kozaki Saké Brewery Festival, which has been held since 2009 in partnership with the town of Kozaki.
Besides Nabedana, Kozaki is also home to Terada Honke, another saké brewery. Previously, the two breweries held separate festivals during the new saké season. Otsuka conceived the idea of unifying the festivals into the Hakko-no Sato Kozaki Saké Brewery Festival, aiming to create an event that draws visitors from both within and outside the prefecture and helps revitalize the town.
“From the very first year, we were amazed by the huge turnout. The main street in front of our shop was lined with stalls selling fresh vegetables and light meals, making it an event where visitors could enjoy all that Kozaki has to offer. Our shop fumbled around a bit in the early going until we gradually realized what people enjoyed. We expanded beyond saké tastings to include talk shows, live performances, and preparing sake-friendly snacks. Although the festival has been postponed since 2019 due to the pandemic, it had grown into a major event attracting as many as 50,000 visitors in a single day.”
The festival’s huge success sparked a community-building movement centered on the concept of fermentation and led to the creation of the fermentation-themed Hakko-no Sato Kozaki highway rest stop in 2015. Otsuka, in fact, worked in coordination with the town’s mayor at the time to pave the way to open the rest stop and served as the rest stop’s first manager. He has dedicated himself to establishing a vibrant, distinctive hub centered on Kozaki’s deeply rooted fermentation culture.
Hakko no Sato Kozaki: Fermentation Gateway
“Kozaki is a small town, but it holds tremendous potential. I want to continue holding events that revitalize not just my company but the entire town. This year, we completed the Koji House on the Nabedana premises that can produce stable quantities of rice koji for food use. Visitors can experience making koji themselves at Koji House by reservation. I would be delighted if this attraction brings more people closer to fermentation, as part of Kozaki’s fermentation tourism and saké-brewing tourism.”