KIKKAWA JOZO

Sake Begins with Water

Rice can be transported from different regions across Japan, but water cannot.

For a sake brewery, choosing where to build a brewery is therefore closely tied to finding a source of water that is well suited to sake brewing.

Kikkawa Jozo is blessed with an abundant supply of groundwater, fed by rainfall from Mount Afuri.

This is hard water, with a hardness of around 150–160, making it relatively rare among the water sources used for sake brewing in Japan.

Hard water contains minerals such as potassium and calcium, which provide nutrients for yeast during fermentation.

With this mineral-rich water, the yeast is essentially “well fed,” allowing it to remain active and drive fermentation even at low temperatures.

This water contributes to the distinctive style of Kikkawa Jozo’s sake: crisp, bright, and marked by a subtle mineral character.

Preserving More of What the Rice Has to Offer

In sake brewing, rice polishing removes the outer layers of the grain, where proteins and amino acids are concentrated and can contribute unwanted flavors.

For this reason, premium sake is often made with highly polished rice.

For Ginjo, the rice is typically polished to 60% or less of its original size, while Daiginjo is polished to below 50%.

Kikkawa Jozo chose to take on a different kind of challenge:

Is it really necessary to polish rice so extensively to make great sake?

The brewery experimented with sake made from rice polished to just 90% of its original size, meaning only about 10% of the grain is polished away.

Rather than removing much of the rice, Kikkawa Jozo chooses to preserve more of what is naturally present in the grain and explore its potential through fermentation.

To achieve this, fermentation is carefully controlled at very low temperatures and proceeds slowly. This approach requires more time and attention, but in return creates sake with greater depth and a distinctive character.

Tradition, with a Willingness to Question

Kikkawa Jozo respects the traditional techniques passed down through generations, while remaining open to new approaches and experimentation.

For the brewery, making sake is not simply about carrying on a craft that has existed for generations.
It is also a continuous process of asking questions:
How can we better understand rice?
How can we bring out more of the character that already exists within the ingredients?

From the rain that falls on Mount Afuri and gradually becomes groundwater, to the way each grain of rice is selected and treated, every element contributes to the distinctive style of Kikkawa Jozo’s sake.

A brewery shaped by the water of its land, yet always willing to look beyond the familiar.