Mirin Culture: Sanshu Mikawa Mirin and Tradition
May 08,2025
May 08,2025
“Agriculture has long flourished here thanks to this bountiful land, and this abundance, by its own accord, led to the development of a brewing culture.” Speaking to us is Sumiya Ayako from Sumiya Bunjiro Shoten, which brews Sanshu Mikawa Mirin, a rice wine. While many parts of Japan have thriving brewing industries, Sumiya proudly states that Aichi is the only place where breweries for miso, soy sauce, vinegar, and mirin all coexist. We spoke with her about Sanshu Mikawa Mirin, which has been in production for 115 years since the company’s founding in Hekinan, Aichi, a small city where a unique brewing and food culture has taken root.
From left, Sanshu Mikawa Mirin, Yuki Sanshu Mirin [organic mirin], Sanshu Umeshu 10 [a plum liqueur], and Yuki Mirin Kasu [organic mirin lees]. Sanshu Umeshu 10 is a mirin-based plum liqueur developed to convey the goodness of mirin.
“Mirin was once consumed as an alcoholic beverage. Nowadays, people see it as a seasoning, so opportunities to drink it are rare. But if you’d like, please try a taste first.”
At Sumiya’s bidding, we take a sip from our glasses. A well-rounded sweetness and umami flavor bloom in our mouths. The mirin’s alcohol content was quite evident, and it reminded us of the taste of a sweet aperitif we’d had somewhere before.
When we told her of our impressions of the drink, Sumiya replied: “Many people have a similar impression. Some people describe it as being like a botrytized dessert wine or an ice wine. Mirin first appeared about 500 years ago during the Sengoku period (1467 to 1615). This was a time before sugar was readily available, and sweet-tasting things were very precious. This made mirin a luxury that only the upper classes, like court nobles and samurai, could drink. Later, during the Edo period (1603 to 1868), it spread among ordinary people, especially among those who couldn’t consume alcohol or were sensitive to it. At the same time, its history as the seasoning we know today began in earnest.”
Sumiya Ayako from Sumiya Bunjiro Shoten spoke with us
Aichi was originally a region where saké brewing prospered. The presence of this industry is part of the reason why there are so many breweries that make mirin in the area.
“During the Edo period, Chita Peninsula was home to over 200 saké breweries. We began brewing mirin by obtaining saké lees, a byproduct of saké production, from nearby breweries. We would redistill the saké lees to make kasutori shochu [a distilled spirit made from saké lees], which we then used to start the mirin brewing process. So, although many saké breweries around the country produce mirin as well, Aichi is distinct in having a lot of breweries specializing exclusively in mirin. In the 1950s, there were reportedly around 20 mirin breweries.”
Sanshu Mikawa Mirin is slowly brewed for over a year
Current production of Sanshu Mikawa Mirin, however, does not use kasutori shochu made from saké lees. So we asked Sumiya how it is produced today.
“Quality assurance is difficult when producing mirin using saké lees, because saké lees is a byproduct of saké making and thus subject to a lot of variability. So we ended this practice at some point after WWII and came up with our current method of brewing mirin with shochu we produce in house.
“We first source all our rice as brown rice from contract farmers and mill it ourselves. We mill the rice based on its condition and on our production schedule. After milling, the rice is washed, soaked in water, and steamed. The steamed glutinous rice, rice koji malt cultivated in our koji room, and the rice shochu we produce are added to the mirin brewing tanks. We let this mixture mature for three months in the tanks. During this time, the action of the koji breaks down the starch in the glutinous rice, making it sweet. After three months, we press the liquid from the mash with a traditional piece of equipment called a fune [a vertical press that uses bags]. The liquid then matures slowly for over a year, experiencing the changing seasons in our local Mikawa region. After this stage, our mirin is finally ready.”
“They say that people long ago in facto chose the times when flowers bloom as the times to prepare mirin,” says Sumiya.
“When plum blossoms bloom and cherry blossoms fall in spring, and when the new rice is harvested and chrysanthemums bloom in autumn, are said to be the optimal times for brewing mirin. However, brewing only during those periods would limit our production volume and inconvenience our customers. Still, we start our brews twice a year in spring and autumn, focusing on those particular periods.”
Mirin produced this way shares characteristics with amazake [a sweet drink made with koji].
“Amazake is made with koji and rice. If you maintain the temperature where koji is at its most active, it can make the starch in rice sweet in just a single day, resulting in delicious amazake. Mirin is made with a very similar process. Mirin’s sweetness is also derived from the koji, so it has the same type of sweetness as amazake. So you could say, in my opinion, that mirin is equivalent to slowly making amazake in shochu.”
Sumiya Bunjiro Shoten uses rice from contract farmers and designated domestic production areas to produce shochu tailored for mirin brewing. The shochu is distilled and aged for a long time. This shochu is indispensable for making Mikawa mirin. Furthermore, Sumiya points out another noteworthy aspect of their mirin.
“We use one sho of rice to make one sho of mirin. One sho is equivalent to 1.8 liters or 1.5 kilograms in liquid weight. The 1:1 ratio of rice on the input side and mirin on the output side is our method of making mirin.”
Under the Japanese Liquor Tax Act’s definition of hon mirin, it is permissible to produce as many as five parts of mirin from one part rice. From this, you can see that Sumiya Bunjiro Shoten’s production method is very extravagant.
“In fact, during WWII, mirin was considered a luxury item and its production was banned. After the war, mirin production was allowed to resume, but rice was still scarce. As a result, nearly 80 percent of the retail price had to be paid as liquor tax. Consequently, breweries all over the country either switched businesses or closed down. The saké breweries that managed to keep making mirin had to get creative due to the exorbitant liquor tax. This is how what is termed mirin-style seasonings came about.”
To get around the liquor taxes, breweries created what was called shin mirin [new mirin] made with grain instead of rice, salt mirin that used brine for its alcoholic fermentation, and other forms of mirin. And advances in technology have led to the emergence of numerous mirin-style seasonings made with ingredients like refined sugar or glucose.
Along with these mirin-style seasonings, another term often heard is hon mirin [authentic mirin]. The category of hon mirin itself has many varieties.
“Not everything labeled hon mirin is the same thing. Some hon mirin products are produced with traditional ingredients and methods, and some are not. I don’t think many people realize this.
“Our mirin that we produce with traditional methods lists glutinous rice, rice koji, and honkaku shochu [singly distilled shochu] made with rice as ingredients. Ultimately, the sole ingredient of our mirin is rice. It has an alcohol content of 14 percent and an amber color.”
Some products labeled hon mirin, however, use brewing alcohol (consumable ethanol) or sugars in addition to glutinous rice and rice koji. Innovations like these offer various cost and time advantages. However, Sumiya says that the deliciousness of Sanshu Mikawa Mirin far outweighs these benefits.
“Our mirin, due to its ingredients and extended maturation period, requires more time to produce than mirin-style seasonings or mass-produced hon mirin. This limits the amounts we can produce and results in a higher price. Yet, we take pride in the fact that the deliciousness of Sanshu Mikawa Mirin can only be achieved with this method.”
Yuki Mirin Kasu [organic mirin lees], with its rich, mellow sweetness, is used in sweets as well
Although mirin is usually associated with dishes like simmered fish, teriyaki chicken, rice bowls with chicken and egg, and nikujaga stewed meat and potatoes, it’s recently been gaining attention in Western cuisine, baking, and sweets circles under the name of glutinous rice liqueur.
“For about ten years now, we’ve been promoting the use of mirin beyond Japanese cuisine and encouraging its use in all kinds of food categories. For example, mirin pairs well with ketchup and complements desserts beautifully.
“Mirin can be used to make a delicious sweet sauce for meat dishes, and we recommend rehydrating dried fruit in mirin instead of rum. It’s also a delight when drizzled over yogurt or ice cream.
“As a result of these promotions, our mirin has been appearing on menus at cafes and hotels in Nagoya, and we’ve seen an increase in inquiries from restaurants and chefs overseas.”
There’s been a growing movement in Aichi in recent years to celebrate its fermented food culture. Sumiya expressed a desire to ride this momentum.
“We are a really tiny mirin brewery, so there’s no way we can compete on volume with the majors. This is why we decided to focus solely on traditional mirin production and compete on quality, which we have been refining steadfastly for the last 30 or 40 years. We remained committed to quality even when things got extremely tough, like rice shortages or high liquor taxes on our products.
“Thankfully, people today have more opportunities to choose Sanshu Mikawa Mirin because they think it’s good. We intend to continue promoting the appeal of mirin even more, both domestically and internationally.”