Young 8th generation came back to the brewery and produced the label of December. The label name “Hikoichi 彦市”is the name which new brewery owner has been succeeding for generations. Let’s have a quick look at the thought of new generation!

Q. How is Hiyaoroshi in this year?

The taste of sake tends to be richer in case that a large amount of sake melted in the process. In this year, the rice didn’t melt excessively, the taste of freshly produced sake became very clean and smooth. Though the summer, this label got matured and turned to be the beautiful and very well-balanced hiyaoroshi.

Q. We’ve heard that you choose rice by considering the chemistry with the hard slight water in Oarai, then what made you think that Hitachinishiki matches with it?

Producing sake with hard water, then the sake is easy to be a slight-dry one. Instead of choosing rice accordingly, I’d rather say that we change the way of koji making according to the compatibility of water and rice. We’re trying our best to use the local rice and changing the way of producing with the water.

Q. The acidity of Hikoichi is very high. What was your aim?

The rice was melted sufficiently and tried to make it very full‐flavored and rich. But this type of sake tends to be very dull and difficult to keep drinking so that we made the acidity very high. The table sake is the aim of this label.

Q. What is the key point to design the sake with higher acidity?

And vice versa, the acidity comes to very obvious without umami.
We always increase the power of koji and melt the rice well to produce a sake with rich umami.

Q. The brewery is located near the coast, are there any special things affect the sake brewing?

Basically, there is nothing special about the brewing. However, it’s more common to pair sake with seafood due to the characteristic of coast side. That’s why we focus on producing the delicious sake which is suitable to pair with seafood.

Q. Please tell us your recommendation how to enjoy Hiyaoroshi.

Enjoying it very chilled or around 42℃ is the best. Of course, it’s great to pair with seafood.

Q. Did you have any new special challenges on brewing in this year?

We’ve got lots of things​ to improve. Especially in this year, we will try to increase the saccharification capability by improving the process of making koji. With having that, we can try to produce the various types of sake.