As you walk down the street, which still retains the atmosphere of a street, you will see a large curtain with the words "Jizake" written on it on a majestic building.

［The Kitajima Sake Brewery was founded in the Edo period. The company was founded in the Edo period (1603-1867). Teruhito Kitajima, president and representative director, is the 14th head of the company. The second year of Bunka era was 1805. Although the Kitajima Brewery was temporarily interrupted during World War II, it has been making sake with rice and water from Omi for over 200 years. After the war, the company resumed sake brewing and began producing "Miyosakae," which was started by Mr. Kitajima's grandfather. Since then, he has continued to preserve the locally loved taste. If I had to choose between sweet and spicy, I would say sweet. Whenever people want to drink "Miyoshiei," we make it so that they can always enjoy the same taste. That's the role of a standard drink," says Teruhito.

On the other hand, in 2002, a new sake was introduced to the market as a new challenge, and its name is "Kitajima. This product was created with an eye toward the future after Teruhito took over the family business. In the past, sake was sold by local liquor stores. Now you can buy sake at supermarkets and convenience stores, and customers can choose from a lineup of bottles. That is fine, but I think it would be nice to have face-to-face sales where the liquor shop owner explains to the customer what kind of sake it is. If the liquor store owner thinks the sake tastes good, he will explain it to the customer when he sells it. This is the brand we launched with the hope of producing such sake. Kitajima" is a sake that is always challenging new things, and is sold by saying, "This year we made something like this. It is a sake that challenges itself. We have different rice, different yeast, and different production years.

Yasuyuki Saida is the toji (master brewer) of Kitajima Sake Brewery, and although he is only 45 years old, he has already been brewing sake here for eight seasons. When we were shown around the production site, we saw the large enameled tanks in which the "Mishiroei" sake is made. The slightly smaller tank in the next room is the "Kitajima," which is waiting to be pressed. Kitajima" expresses its flavor by taking advantage of the characteristics of the rice, and many different types of rice are used. The "Mishiroe" brewery uses two tons of rice in total, but the "Kitajima" brewery uses at most 900 kilograms, less than half. That is less than half. We keep the size of the brewing process small, and brew with a fine-tuned brewing process," he said.

It is even more complicated because there are different production years, in other words, some sake is aged for a longer period of time. Sake is also aged differently depending on the sake. Delicate sake is often stored in bottles, while wild and robust sake is aged in tanks. In this way, various flavors of "Kitajima" are produced every year.

Sake shops, or liquor stores, specialize in restaurants. For this reason, "Kitajima" is a perfect food sake. In addition to the fact that it can be enjoyed with a meal, another of Teruhito's specialties is heating sake. He wants his sake to be delicious when heated. To achieve this, he uses a process called "kami-hashiwazukuri. This method uses nitrate-reducing bacteria and lactic acid bacteria to prevent the growth of bacteria and nurture the yeast, and it is a time-consuming and labor-intensive process. In fact, in the beginning, "Kitajima" was not made using the "nama-hashiwazukuri" method, but instead was made as a pure sake.

I enjoyed the taste of nama sake, but although it was called a "food sake," nama sake was quite heavy on the palate. Then I tried a heated sake made from the same sake brewing process, and I was surprised at how good heated sake could be. There is no sake in the world that can be drunk warmed. We had to take this delicious culture to the next level. That's why we decided to make sake that tastes good when heated, using the traditional sake brewing method.
Of course, depending on your taste, "Kitajima" may be tasty at room temperature. ...... A good sake has a very beautiful taste, but it doesn't have to be a sake yeast yeast yeast yeast yeast yeast. But you don't have to use a sake brewer's yeast for that taste. However, as the temperature is raised, the range of taste of sake made with a good sake brewing process changes. It has a depth of beauty. You can't do that without using the traditional sake yeast," says Teruhito.

If you've heard this much, you can't help but warm up the sake.

A sake brewery that has been in existence for 200 years was fascinated by this sake that tastes great when heated.
Sake is being exported more and more and is attracting attention from abroad, but I really want Japanese people to know how good it is," he says. Teruhito continues to create new sake while aiming to popularize the culture of sake, including heated sake.

■ Shiga Prefecture
[Ogawa Liquor Store] 077-524-2203 / 2-1-31 Hamaotsu, Otsu City, Shiga Prefecture
[Kato Liquor Store] 077-522-4546 / 13-1 Kinoshita-cho, Otsu City, Shiga Prefecture
［8-16-14 Oiwake, Kusatsu City, Shiga Prefecture, Shiga Prefecture, Japan
［Takatsu Sake Shop] +81-77-563-0650/18-2, Nomura 1-chome, Kusatsu City, Shiga Prefecture
［Kintetsu Department Store Kusatsu] 077-564-1111/1-1-50 Shibukawa, Kusatsu-shi, Shiga
［Aokiya] 077-582-2522 / 1317-3 Harimada-cho, Moriyama-shi, Shiga
[Shuchuya Takimoto] 077-581-0322 / 2-11-18 Imajuku, Moriyama City, Shiga Prefecture
[Sake Store Maetani] 0749-22-0575/5-10 Funamachi, Hikone City, Shiga Prefecture
[Omasuya] 0748-27-0014 / 447 Yamagamicho, Higashiomi City, Shiga Prefecture
［Sake wholesaler Nakamura] 0748-77-3839 / 2-6-30 Ishibe Higashi, Konan City, Shiga Prefecture

■ Kyoto Prefecture
［Takimoto] 075-341-9111 / Rokujo-dori, Takakura-higashiiru, Shimogyo-ku, Kyoto-shi, Kyoto
［Asao Sake Shop] 075-781-3210 / 6-17 Tanakanojin-cho, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto-shi, Kyoto
[Nishimoto Sake Store] 075-221-0452 / 480 Aneyakoji-dori Nishinotoin Nishiimiyakicho, Nakagyo-ku, Kyoto-shi, Kyoto Prefecture