Our Brewing Phylosophy

The history of Sakai's sake breweries dates back to the Taisho era.

At that time, there were more than 100 breweries in Sakai, and the city was a well-known and vibrant sake-brewing area.

However, this vitality gradually declined due to the effects of war and urbanisation, and sake brewing came to an end in 1971.

Local leaders with a passionate desire to revive sake brewing in Sakai, relocated a brewery from Higashinada and established Sakai Izumi Shuzo in 2014.

In fact, this was the first revival of local sake in 44 years.

Sen no Rikyu is characterised by its calm aroma and taste. Rikyu Gura defines Sakai-ness as 'sweet sake'.

It has long been said that Sakai's sake is sweet, but this does not simply refer to its sweetness, but to its mellowness as a sake.

The symbol of this 'sweet sake' is the 'eight-stage brewing' process. Sake is usually brewed in three stages, and it is extremely rare to find a brewery that uses eight stages. Theoretically, this method is more likely to produce a sweet sake, but it requires more than twice as many steps as usual.

However, we are the ones who go through this enormous process in pursuit of the sweet sake that is typical of Sakai. This is the Rikyu brewery's attitude towards sake brewing and an expression of its beliefs.

Sake is created when rice and water are combined with the power of koji.

We brew sake by small batches and by hand, and pass on the knowledge and skills of our senior Toji to the younger generation by making a large number of batches.

Together with university brewing departments, scientific analysis of the 'function of Koji', which the Toji have grasped through experience and sensory perception, is being carried out to understand how to control Koji and mash.