Things that have changed and things that have remained the same in the 150 years since the brewery's founding
Sake brewery rooted in a peaceful rural area surrounded by the Alps
The entire family works together to perform all processes by hand, from processing the raw materials to pressing the sake. They face nature and engage with the sake for the sole purpose of producing a delicious beverage.
History unfolds under the watchful care of a 150-year-old alder tree
Shiojiri City in the center of Nagano, where the sake brewery is located, is the most important transportation hub in the prefecture. With the mountains of the Northern and Central Alps and the Higashiyama and Takabotchi Mountains in the background, the town has a peaceful rural landscape. Narai-juku, one of the city's most famous tourist attractions, was once the most prosperous post town along the Nakasendo Highway. The nostalgic atmosphere of the town, which stretches about 1 km from north to south, attracts many tourists from Japan and abroad.
A five-minute drive from Shiojiri Station will take you to a rural area. Here, you can find Marunaga Suzo, marked by a cedar ball and a 150-year-old alder tree that towers over it.
Marunaga Shuzo was founded in 1871, around the same time the alder tree was planted. However, according to Mr. Motoharu Nagahara, the fifth generation and seventh president of the brewery and current toji (chief brewer), although the records go back as far as 1871, sake was probably being made before then. “We don't know what it was like in the Edo period. It is said that the village used to be a rice-gathering village, so perhaps sake brewing started around that time.” (Mr. Nagahara)
On the large site, there is an old building that has been repaired many times, with some areas having been enlarged or expanded due to increased production. On a beam in the warehouse that houses the brewing tanks, “昭和27年” (Showa 27, which is the year 1952) is written. The traces of gradual changes over time are a reminder of the weight of the brewery’s history.
In the past, there used to be employees and neighbors who would come to help out, but today, Mr. Nagahara, along with his wife, son, and mother run the brewery as a family of four. Although they cannot brew a large amount of sake, they aim to produce sake with the sort of sincerity that is only possible from such a small brewery.
Spare no effort in being elaborate
The taste of sake can easily change from time to time, depending on countless factors such as the climate, the quality of the rice, or the type of koji (malted rice).
Water is one such factor. Marunaga Shuzo uses tap water from the city of Shiojiri, filtered through activated carbon. "We used to use groundwater, and we have two wells. However, the hardness of the groundwater in the area is quite high. It used to be that the higher the hardness, the safer it was for the yeast to expand and ferment, but now, for both sanitary and technical reasons, we have decided that tap water is best. Shiojiri gets its water from the Narai River, which flows from Kiso, and the quality of the water is good.” (Mr. Nagahara)
Water from deep underground, like hot springs, has high iron content and is not suitable for sake. Shallow wells are suitable for sake brewing, but if they are too shallow, pesticides and other chemicals that have seeped into the ground can affect sake production. Mr. Nagahara decided that tap water sourced from this beautiful river would be less risky.
This year, the brewery is working frantically to devise ways to dissolve the rice that has grown hard due to the extreme heat of the summer of 2023. They are facing sake brewing through repeated trial and error, adjusting the condition of the koji, temperature, and moisture content.
On the day of the interview, Mr. Nagahara said he wanted to raise the temperature of the sake in the barrels by 0.5 degrees. Inside the cold brewery, steam was rising from the steamer. The whole family works together to break up the steamed rice and cool it down while blowing air through it. No thermometer is used during this process. They can tell the approximate temperature by the heat they feel from the palms of their hands. Once the rice reaches the right temperature, it is transferred to a barrel. This process is repeated about 10 times. The steamer is then emptied, and the temperature of the barrels rises slightly.
In the case of Daiginjo (made with additional alcohol, rice and water), and Junmai-Daiginjo (made purely with rice and water) sake, consumers have a wide range of tastes, and if you want to win prizes at sake competitions, it is even more important to know what the latest trends are and change the taste accordingly. “It is impossible to make sake that always tastes the same. It is natural for the taste of Daigin and Junmai-Daigin to change constantly. People's tastes change, and the taste that wins prizes at sake competitions also changes. That is why we exchange information at training sessions where toji gather, go to lectures to learn about new trends, and create new flavors through trial and error every year,” says Mr. Nagahara.
On the other hand, what has not changed is the regular sake that has long been loved by the locals. It is the kind of taste that makes customers say, “That's Takanami,” as soon as they take a sip. Even though the brewers have changed, they continue to faithfully preserve the taste created by their predecessors.
“Another thing that never changes is koji. I believe that sake depends on koji, so I never compromise on koji preparation. Every year, we work hard to infuse our koji with the latest trends to produce the sake that we submit to competitions.” (Mr. Nagahara)
To let people taste good sake
The brewery is aiming to further promote “Frozen Takanami” made using the new quick freezer. By freezing freshly squeezed sake at minus 30 degrees Celsius, the aroma and taste are preserved, and the same flavor can be enjoyed for years to come. Quick freezing freezes the alcohol and water without separating them, so the alcoholic content remains the same when the sake melts. Therefore, no matter what state the sake is drunk in, the concentration will remain the same. “Sake begins to melt at about minus 13 degrees Celsius. When the frozen sake warms up in your mouth, you get a big kick out of the flavor,” says Mr. Nagahara.
Marunaga Shuzo is currently exporting “Takanami” to Singapore. Thanks to an encounter with a Singaporean painter, “Takanami” can now be seen in various restaurants and stores in Singapore. The original Singaporean label uses a painting by the artist. With a gorgeous painting as the label, “Takanami” shines brightly. In the future, the brewery also plans to wholesale to French restaurants and hopes to increase its sales partners little by little and step by step.
Nevertheless, Marunaga Shuzo's policy will likely remain the same in the future. Keeping in mind the possibilities that being a small-scale brewery offers, they continue to make sake today.
