The Yoshinogawa Sake Brewery

Yoshinogawa is the oldest brewery in Niigata. Their on-site will is famous: Tenka Kanrosen 天下甘露泉. The company grows its rice in the summer and brews in the winter and uses only Niigata-grown rice. They primarily use the Gohyakumangoku and Koshi Tanrei strains. In the brewery, they combine modern technology with traditional hands-on techniques. They take a very high-tech approach to koji cultivation. They have several different koji rooms that they use to produce different types of sake. Yoshinogawa also produces yeast commercially, which they of course use in-house. This yeast production extends to baking and other types of alcohol fermentation.

The style of sake produced at Yoshinogawa is classic Niigata/Echigo: light, dry, and dry. There are, of course, exceptions to this rule. An example is the super fruity, fragrant, and off-dry “Winter Warrior” Junmai Ginjo. 

Yoshinogawa sake is quite food-friendly. Broadly speaking, their compact and transparent nature works with a variety of dishes and cuisine. Delicately flavored sashimi, nigiri, and maki-mono should work well. This is particularly true with salmon. Alternatively, dried salmon is really nice with their lower grade sake. And lastly, regional dishes and ingredients like abura-age 油揚げ and hegi soba へぎそば, and nanban ebi (ama ebi) are worth exploring together if you get the chance.

Location: Nagaoka, Niigata  EST: 1548  President: Koji Kawakami

Official site– English   Timothy Sullivan gold

Yoshinogawa Sake – 吉乃川 

 

Label Tanslation

Yoshinogawa 吉乃川

Niigata   新潟県   Echigo 越後

Tenka Kanrosen 天下甘露泉