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.
