NEXT5 is a joint brewing unit from the above 5 breweries.  Aimed at making sake using their collective knowledge and skils, the 5 brewers create a sake of the future, often collaborate with artist and world reknowned chefs to come out with a  limited production sake.

Tadahiko Kobayashi, the third head of Akita Brewery (makers of Yuki no Bijin) Yusuke Sato, the eighth head of Aramasa Brewery (makers of Aramasa)

Koei Watanabe, the sixteenth head of Fukurokuju Brewery (makers of Ippaku Suisei)

Tomofumi Yamamoto, sixth head of Yamamoto Brewery (makers of Yamamoto)  Naoaki Kuribayashi, seventh head of Kuribayashi Brewery (makers of Harukasumi)

THE POWER OF 5

YAMAMOTO

Yamamoto Brewery

Tomofumi Yamamoto

Sake and Adventurous Character Inspired by the Sound of the Beatles.

The brewery produces two labels: the long standing “Shirataki”, as well as Yamamoto’s own eponymous “Yamamoto” label. Both utilise the brewery’s own sake rice, locally developed in Akita sake yeasts and the famously soft subterranean water that follows into the area from Mt Yakushi, in the World Heritage Shirakami Mountain Ranges.

YUKI NO BIJIN

Akita Brewery

Tadahiko Kobayashi

SENSEI with Expertise and Skills on the NEXT 5 Project.

When we think of a sakagura (sake brewery) our mind immediately conjures up images of a traditional wooden building whose walls emanate the long history of the brewery. So it comes as a bit of a surprise to discover that Akita Jozo is located on the first floor of an apartment complex. But this unorthodox location is actually quite fitting for a brewery headed by the passionate and idiosyncratic owner/master brewer, Tadahiko Kobayashi.

HARUKASUMI

Kuribayashi Brewery

Naoaki Kuribayashi

The Creator of the Pristine Flavour Coming from Pure Spring Water and the Severity of the Winter Weather.In addition to the famed spring water, Harukasumi’s pristine flavour is due in part to the severity of the winter weather in this district. Located in the far south east of Akita, the Misato-cho area is so heavily blanketed with snow that the scenery becomes a seemingly endless expanse of white. This cold ambient temperature is perfectly suited to the style of low and slow fermentation required to make high-quality ginjo-shu sake.

ARAMASA

Aramasa Brewery

Yusuke Sato

Aramasa Shuzo’s eighth-generation president, Yusuke Sato, is a sake celebrity in his own right. The 166-year-old brewery is known for its discovery of sake yeast strain No. 6 in 1935. The variety fell out of fashion for several years until Aramasa revived it in a series of brews appropriately named, “No. 6.”

Sato has also made waves for re-introducing old-school techniques, such as wooden-barrel fermentation, which lends character to the final product but requires extra effort to keep the vessels clean.

He uses a laborious and time-consuming method to produce the yeast starter (an essential mix of rice, water and koji — the mold responsible for breaking starch molecules into sugar), which converts sugar to alcohol.

Called kimoto-zukuri, the process involves using a wooden tool to mash up the rice solids in the yeast starter until they have completely dissolved. It takes about four weeks and results in brews with higher acidity and greater complexity.