From the land, sake.
Snow on the mountains becomes water, water feeds the paddies, and the rice they yield becomes sake in the winter brewery. The gifts of Akita’s land and the stories of all 33 breweries, in one place.
Positions are approximate, based on each brewery’s town. Gold rings mark partner breweries.
Mountain, water, paddy.
Akita sake begins with the gifts of mountain, water and paddy, and is brewed by hand in the winter brewery.
Mountains store the winter snow
Shirakami, the Ōu range, Mt Chōkai. Winter snow seeps into the ground through spring and summer, becoming underground water over many years.
The land gives back pure water
Rokugō in Misato counts around a hundred springs. Soft underground water rises in the breweries’ wells.
Water ripens the rice
The Senboku plain and Yokote Basin are among Akita’s great rice bowls. Akita Sake Komachi, Misato Nishiki, Hyakuden, Ichihozumi: local rice shapes each brewery.
And in the winter brewery, the gifts become sake.
The hands of the toji and brewers, and the yeast and bacteria of the brewery. Kyokai No.6, the oldest sake yeast still in use, was born at Aramasa.
Getting to know sake
Label terms, brewing methods, seasonal sake and how to enjoy it. With these, the differences between breweries become far more interesting.
Grades and polishing
What "junmai" and "ginjo" on a label mean: your first clue when choosing.
Read more →Making: kimoto, yamahai, sokujo
The same rice tastes different depending on how the yeast starter is made. Terms you will meet on brewery pages.
Read more →Sake through the seasons
New sake, summer sake, hiyaoroshi: sake has seasons, and shows a different face through the year.
Read more →Enjoying it: temperature and glass
Sake is delicious chilled or warmed; its character shifts with temperature.
Read more →Journal
Original reporting from our editors and features from partner breweries.
From the land to the glass: a year of mountain, water, paddy and brewery
Behind every glass of Akita sake is a yearly cycle that begins with snow on the mountains.
Reading Akita through its sake rice
Follow the rice behind Akita’s signature sakes and one local variety after another appears.
Two breweries in Rokugō, the town of springs
Misato’s Rokugō has around a hundred springs. From the same town’s water come two very different sakes.
Bring your brewery’s story to tables around the world.
Features in four languages, a link to your official store, and a richer brewery page. About our partner programme.