Yakitori at a Sake Brewery

The neighborhood of Fushimi (伏見), about 15 minutes away by local train from Kyoto, was known as one of the oldest sake-brewing region in the country, partly because of the proximity to the former capital and also because of the great quality of water that flow through the area, providing the perfect key ingredient for brewing. And I was here one evening not only for some sake tasting, and for a serious chicken feast at an izakaya which was actually part of the brewery.

Our First Sake Tour - Shirataki Sake Brewery

One of the many interesting parts of the recent Japan trip is a visit to the Shirataki Sake Brewery (白瀧酒造) in Echigo-Yuzawa in the southern part of Niigata prefecture. We were drawn to the area of Niigata mainly for it being a major rice growing and sake brewing region. I always wanted to go up close to learn more about how to make sake, but turned out it's much harder to find a brewery open to public, and even harder to find one that have someone fluent in English to explain everything to us than say finding a vineyard that can do the same for wine elsewhere. But a few email exchanges later, I am glad that Shirataki Sake Brewery agreed to show us around their facilities, and guide us through sake tasting at the end of the tour.