``Sake Samurai'' was started in 2006 by the Japan Sake Brewery Youth Council, a national organization of young brewers, in order to restore the pride of sake and spread the culture of sake not only within Japan but also to the world. Sake Samurai Coordinator Yoshie Hiraide, who is working to realize the dream of turning Sake into a tourism-oriented nation, introduces unique sake breweries that Japanese sake lovers should visit at least once, and the sake they want to taste there.

``Urakasumi'' is a famous Tohoku brewery that was founded in 1724 during the era of the 1000th Shogun Yoshimune Tokugawa. Urakasumi's sake brewing began when they received an order from the Date clan to deliver the sacred sake of Shiogama Shrine. Since then, it is a long-established brewery that has been brewing sake for Shiogama Shrine, which has a history of over XNUMX years.

The current head of the company, the 45th president, Koichi Saura, can be said to have made a great contribution to the internationalization of sake. He served as vice president of the Japan Sake Makers' Association, and has been dedicated to the community and the industry for many years. When President Saura was the chairman of the Japan Sake Brewery Youth Council (a national organization of young brewers up to the age of 2007), he started the Sake Samurai business as sake ambassadors to the world, and also participated in the International Wine Challenge (IWC).・Wine Challenge) and achieved the establishment of the SAKE department in XNUMX.

IWC (International Wine Challenge) is the world's largest international wine competition, held in London every April. Being recognized and evaluated by world-class sommeliers increases the presence of sake. That is not all. In order to evaluate sake, these experts frequently visit sake breweries to learn about sake and the local Japanese culture that nurtured it. There were seeds of wine tourism, which has now become commonplace in the wine world, to become sake tourism. In fact, an era has arrived where many foreign sake lovers are visiting Japanese sake breweries. If there wasn't a person named Saura. The speed at which the appeal of sake spread around the world may have been slower.

The ``Urakasumi Sake Gallery'' is attached to the Urakasumi headquarters with the theme of ``Disseminating Japanese sake culture from Urakasumi''. You can also learn about and taste sake at the brewery guide yakiki sake counter. It is also popular as an excursion on the luxury cruise ship Asuka II, which calls at Ishinomaki Port, and is crowded with many tourists. In addition to displaying and selling pottery and glass sake vessels, including the Urakasumi brand, which is limited to Miyagi Prefecture and can only be bought and tasted locally, it also serves as a place to disseminate a variety of information about sake and Shiogama. There is. I can't help but admire the land where sake is grown and the way they express the culture from multiple angles.

(Talk by Yoshie Hiraide)

Yoshie Hiraide Select “Urakasumi” 2 Recommended Bottles

Yamahai Junmai Daiginjo Urakasumi Hirano
A tribute to the late Shigeichi Hirano, the honorary chief brewer of Urakasumi. ``Mr. Hirano is the representative chief brewer of Nanbu Chief Brewer, and there are no Japanese sake enthusiasts who don't know him,'' says Hiraide. The gorgeous aroma of ripe fruit is in harmony with the firm acidity and flavor of rice.
Type: Junmai Daiginjo sake
Raw material rice: Yamada Nishiki
Rice polishing rate: 40%
Sake level: +1~+XNUMX
720ml 5,280 yen (excluding tax)

Extra Daiginjo Urakasumi
We also recommend ``Extra Daiginjo Urakasumi,'' which is brewed during the coldest months and slowly stored and aged at low temperatures. "I drink it in a wine glass. It's a fragrant flavor that shows its potential in a wine glass."
Type: Daiginjo sake
Raw material rice: Yamada Nishiki
Rice polishing rate: 40%
Sake level: +1
720ml 3,800 yen (excluding tax)

◆Urakasumi Brewery Saura Co., Ltd.
2-19 Honmachi, Shiogama City, Miyagi Prefecture
022-362-4165

Toshie Hiraide

Born in 1962. Representative director of Corpo Kou Co., Ltd., which aims to internationalize sake and attract inbound tourists to regional areas. He is the sake samurai coordinator. IWC Ambassador. Shoryudo Ambassador (Inbound Ambassador for XNUMX prefectures in Chubu and Hokuriku)

(Titles omitted)

2. Continue to 12 Sake Sake Recognized by the World “Majusen”