Check out the Best quality of Sake! Tamura Brewery has about 200 years of history of making Sake. Some of the building are actually original ones from the 1822.
"Work with respect, serve with respect"
This is their policy wrote by the founder Mr. Kanjiro Tamura. When Mr. Kanjiro decided to make Sake Brewery, he bored many wells, but he couldn't find the good one for Sake. Someday, he bored inside of his own garden, and he finally hit the greatest well for Sake. He named this water "Kasen (double meaning of Spring of happiness, and best water)" which now become the name of the brand. After about 200 years, they still use the original well.
Tamura Brewery has 16 kinds of Sake and various kinds of size for each Sake.
Maboroshi no Sake
... is the Honjozo-sake which produced by 15th owner Mr. Hanjuro Tamura to produce the best quality of Honjozo-sake as second rank of Sake. It was big hit because the taste was extremely great and price was so reasonable. Now days, Maboroshi no Sake is one of famous Sake in Tamura Brewery. It could be served by hot or cold sake.
Namazake
... is the Sake which has still active yeast in it. Drink it cold.
Tamura Sake
... is the special brand of Tamura Brewery. It is served only 100 stores in Japan. Entire processes are extremely well designed for making best kind of Sake. It has great harmony of taste and smells. Strong, deep and also fruity taste. Drink it cold. You cannot buy Tamura Sake at this brewery. Please check out the list of retailer shop on their official web site.
They have Brewery tour and tasting for free. To do the tour, you have to make an appointment.
Process - All done by the experienced professionals
Steaming Rice
"Steaming rice is the first and most important process of Sake brewing because all sake will be made by those rice. We have to be extremely careful with moisture and temperature because to make all rice in the same way, we have to adjust all the time. If you make a mistake, then all the rice will be useless. So, we have to keep eyes on it all the time to make a great streamed rice, and that's my job."
Making Koji
"You cannot make the perfect Koji all the time. So, most important thing to make a Koji is make a well balanced Koji. My job is thinking a head time what kind of Koji will be needed for later process and make Koji in the way they want. There is no manual which make perfect Koji, it's all about sense and feeling."
Making Yeast Mash
"My job is making large amount of high quality Yeast Mash. I have to keep my eyes on not only gruel and smells, but also colors as well. The more I make Yeast Mash, the easier the process will be. If the Yeast Mash was bad quality, the we never able to make great sake."
Stocking In
"In this Process, we put Yeast Mash, Steamed Rice, Koji, and water. We do this for three times, 1st: Soe, 2nd: Naka, 3rd: Tome. In between, Soe and Naka, there are break period which called Odori. Then all the sake materials becomes Moromi."
Fermentation Process
"I have to check the Fermentation Process all the time for Sake to become exact way we want. It is more like taking care of baby. I have to be there all the time. In my position, I have to take care of all the process from Koji making to Stocking because I have to make a order and decision to make up the final taste of Sake. So, I have to think a head for weekly or even monthly further in the future."
Squeezing Moromi
"Some of high rank Sake, we use the traditional way of squeezing which is use the gravity to make a drop one by one. This is the greatest way to squeeze sake."
The great Kashi-Tree
In the old time, all sake brewery put their storage under the big tree. Because the shade made by the tree keeps the temperature cool and steady. This tree is about 700 to 1,000 years old.
Wood sign said
"ISAKE ISSAI FUKUMAZU SORO"
No Free Sake.
In the old time, when the travelers found out the brewery, they always ask sake for free. So, they put the sigh said No Free Sake here because we are not bar.
Tamura Brewery (田村酒造所, Tamurasyuzojo)
The official web site: http://seishu-kasen.com
Fussa 626, Fusa, Tokyo, 197-0011
Tel: 042.551.0003 Fax: 042.553.6021
e-mail: info@seishu-kasen.com