At Yamamoto Sake Brewery, the number of young people who want to try making shochu is increasing.
Special water
When the company was founded, there was a water god's well, and all preparations were made using water from this well.
handmade factory
The quality of traditional handmade craftsmanship is still cherished and passed down to this day.
Special koji
Shochu making is a collaboration between nature and people.
Special potato
The heart of shochu making is that we are particular about the raw material, sweet potatoes.
long term storage
Freshly distilled shochu is a new product.
Discerning distillation
The distillation method is "normal pressure distillation".
Washing rice, soaking, and draining...The raw rice used in koji making is washed, soaked, drained, and water adjusted to prepare it for steaming.
Making koji: Steamed rice is cooled, seed koji is sprinkled on it, and koji is made over a period of about 40 hours while controlling temperature and humidity.
1st preparation...Water and yeast are added to the finished koji and fermented for about 6 days under appropriate temperature control.
Washing and sorting potatoes: Sweet potatoes are easily perishable after harvesting, so we carefully sort them one by one as soon as possible and cut off unnecessary parts.
Steaming Cooling: After steaming the selected sweet potatoes, the cooling time is adjusted according to the season.
Distillation: Distilling mash.
Storage and Aging...Immediately after distillation, the unique flavor of the raw materials is strong, and there are many gas smells and oily components, so we store and age the shochu by stirring it and slowly making shochu.
Blending...We sample all of the finished unprocessed sake, blend it to meet each product's specifications, taste and aroma, and decide on the blending ratio.
Bottling: The shochu is washed with boiling water in a bottle washing machine, and the shochu is poured into bottles, and each bottle is carefully checked to ensure that there are no foreign objects or cracks in the bottle.