Brewery History
Nanyo Jozo Brewery is located in the Kamishingo, Hanyu City in north-eastern Saitama prefecture. Its history dates back to 1860, but is currently run by a small team of three: the owner, his wife and his younger brother. The size of the team limits the brewery’s scale of production, but they more than make up for it in quality.
Their signature brand sake, Hanaabi, is proof of this; despite it being only available in select shops and its overall scarcity, it was ranked second on the Japanese sake website Saketime in 2019, praised for its unique and rich aroma.
Regionality
The larger Saitama prefecture has been putting effort into its sake industry in recent years. The yeast developed at the Northern Research Institute of the Saitama Prefectural Industrial Technology Center is extremely suited for making Ginjo sake, and this has translated to Saitama’s breweries having a high winning rate at the National New Sake Awards. The prefecture also opened the Sainokuni Sake Brewing School, which gathers young engineers and conducts training to improve the brewing techniques of up and coming brewers.
The Nanyo Jozo brewery uses subterranean water from the Tonegawa as well as the neighbouring Aragawa for their sake. Although water from the latter is known to have slightly higher hardness, the water in Saitama prefecture is overall quite soft, and this can be observed in the sake. The rice used in the sake are all specifically sourced, brand sake rice, including Ginfuu from Hokkaido and Miyamanishiki from Nagano.
