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​OUR STORY

Sake is made by hand using good rice and water.

 

The water that springs out from the bottom of the storehouse is so good that it is still passed down from generation to generation.

Good rice and water from fertile land. It was Manbei Wakabayashi I who started brewing sake with the hope that everyone would drink it.

Founded in 1896, Wakabayashi Brewing has been family-run for over 120 years.
Located in a basin surrounded by mountains, it is a scenic area with many hot springs, temples and shrines. Not only does Nagano provide clean water for brewing, it also creates ideal climatic conditions for rice cultivation, which we use to our advantage.

We are keeping  effort to make sake which is loved and makes people happy because of the founder's motto, "what the worthful sake is to be loved". 

 

5 people in front of the gate.jpg
Wakabayashi Brewery

 

Today, it is enjoyed by locals in Ueda and Ogata, and is loved by many. It depends on your efforts.

 

The representative brand is “Tsukiyoshino”.

Around the time of its founding, during a cherry blossom viewing party under the Yoshino cherry blossoms, it was named after seeing a blizzard of cherry blossoms falling on the full moon.

Our brewery's sake, which began as cherry-blossom viewing sake, is now enjoyed by people who visit Shiotadaira and Bessho Onsen, and by everyone in the region throughout the year.

 

The name of our sake is "TSUKIYOSHINO".

TSUKI means moon, and YOSHINO means cherry blossoms.

 

The origin of the name;

We have the beautiful culture "OHANAMI"  in spring which people enjoy the transit beauty of cherry blossoms with sake . When the founder enjoyed a night party under the cherry blossoms, he saw a flurry of cherry blossoms in the wind at full moon, and thought how beautiful it is. 

We believe to respect for the taste, elegance, and nature leads to that Japanese sake culture become more flourishing. 

Company information

​Company name   Wakabayashi Brewery Co., Ltd.

President and CEO  Fumio Wakabayashi, (4th generation brewery)

Location                      466 Nakano, Ueda, Nagano TEL: 0268-38-2526 FAX: 0268-38-0225

Founded                     October 1896 

Capital                       10 million yen

Business contents Manufacture and sale of sake, manufacture and sale of soft drinks (juice, amazake), pickle production

Business hours         8:30-17:30 Closed on weekends and holidays

History

1896 

Manbei Wakabayashi founded a sake brewery in Nakano, Nakashioda-mura, Chiisagata-gun. Started brewing sake and soy sauce. Sake brewing style was from Echigo Toji.

1921 

Incorporated into Wakabayashi Brewing Co., Ltd.

1993 

The out of store department has newly established, and the office and warehouse has expanded.

2006 

Started juice processing business. The purpose of contributing to the secondary use of damaged or irregularly shaped crops.

2011 

Released "Shiki no Amazake" series with the Nagano Prefectural Industrial Technology Center. 

2012 

Collaborative development with the NPIT center of "Labre bacterium fermented refreshing amazake" using plant-derived lactic acid bacterium Labre.

​2015 

​Renovated the Koji room that has not been used for about 50 years and revive our own Koji making.

Sake Party is started and held twice a year.

2016 

Mami Wakabayashi, the second daughter of the 4th generation brewery, became the first female brewery in history. We  had participated in intensive manufacturing since 1969, but switched to in-house brewing.

2017 

Introduced TM type ginjo press machine, and transferred most of the production to high class.

​2018

Introduced a refrigerator / freezer for sake to expand the storage capacity of bottle storage.

Started exporting and selling sake.

2019 

Developed a lactic acid bacterium fermented sake mother(Shubo)  using plant-derived lactic acid bacteria, and revived the Yamahai method.

2020 

Near our brewery, we started to work on organic cultivation of sake rice (a farming method that reuses cotton).

2021 

Renovated the retail store attached to the office.

2022 

Awarded in the Junmai Ginjo category of Japan Sake Awards 2021.

KUNOICHI by Moonbloom won the silver medal at IWSC2022 (International Wine and Spirits Competition: The world three major alcoholic beverage contests).

Received the Excellence Prize at Kanto Shinetsu Sake Awards 2022 for Junmai Ginjo.

Moonbloom won awards at San Francisco International Wine Competition.

Gold for Moonbloom Daiginjo

Silver for  Moonbloom

Moonbloom won awards at Los Angeles International Wine Competition.

Silver for Moonbloom Daiginjo

Gold for  Moonbloom

Silver for KUNOICHI by Moonbloom

2023 

Renovated the break room.

​Built a room specifically for washing sake rice.

Organized the tank layout in the brewery and unified it into 2000L size tanks. 

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