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Kubo-honke shuzou
Kubo-honke shuzou(=久保本家酒造) was established in 1702 in Nara, which is the origin of saké. Toji(=杜氏。Head of brewery team) : Mr.Kato has lead saké making of Kubo-honke since 2003. Mr.Kato has received the full backing of Mr.Kubo(the 11th head of family Kubo-honke). He and his team brew the one and only, authentic saké which has extreme purity and boasts outstanding strength and durability.
Toji : Mr.Kato had brought the “Kimoto(=生酛)” method to make his ideal saké. Kimoto is an ancient method which was established in the Edo era. Today, sokujou(=速醸。making starter instantly and safely) is the standard way of saké making and this method is good for mass production. On the other hand, the whole process of Kimoto is executed manually and naturally, therefore Toji needs to deal with the risk of spoilage of fermentation, and the production amount is limited. Due to poor cost efficiency, Kimoto had disappeared 100 years ago and was forgotten for a long time. However, some breweries rediscovered merits of Kimoto and they revived this method today. On the way of quest to ideal saké, Toji : Mr.Kato had encountered Kimoto, and he decided to go this way.
Kuramoto(=蔵元。owner of brewery) : Mr.Kubo was not interested in saké and this family business when he was young, and he had started his carrier as a banker after graduation. After a while, he was sent to London branch, and maybe this experience of seeing Japan and its culture from the overseas had brought him some different sight. Then, he re-recognised that his family has been inheriting treasures since 300 years ago, and he was aware that he must succeed the family brewery. After that, he finally went back to Kubo-honke shuzou in 1995.
At that time, Kubo-honke was selling bulk saké to major companies. Mr.Kubo was struggling and he was thinking about the future of saké industry, and that his brewery will not be bright if they were doing the same(saké industry over the peak in 1975 and is continuously declining since that). He decided to change the business style and started selling saké with their own labels. It was also not easy, and he had to be patient. After years of trial and error, finally Mr.Kubo found Mr.Kato and got an inspiration “His Kimoto is the solution”. Then, Mr.Kubo had bet the future of Kubo-honke on Mr.Kato. That was year 2003.
To sign the contract, Mr.Kato requested one important condition. That was "Kato and his team can drink saké(what they produced) as much as they like", because Mr.Kato wanted to make saké with the highest quality for his self drinking. "That's why we are very serious. We produce real stuff for ourselves, so quality guaranteed 100%. And remainings are for sale", said Mr.Kato.
Today, several breweries have implemented the Kimoto method, and generally people recognise that Kimoto brings complexity to saké. However Kubo-honke's Kimoto is not like others. Toji : Mr.Kato builds-up and refines yeasts thoroughly until completion of fermentation. Those strong yeasts convert all sugars to alcohol and finish their task perfectly. This extreme process makes superb purity and outstanding strength. It's brilliant.
Mr.Kato and his team also produce Sokujou version. "Based on deep understanding of every step of Kimoto, we are also able to operate Sokujou method perfectly too". So high quality of Kubo-honke's casual lines(Sokujou version) are also strongly supported by their Kimoto expertise.
Today, this almost deified brewery Kubo-honke is releasing three unique saké - “Kimoto-no-dobu=生酛のどぶ” is an ultimate cloudy sake in dry style, “Suiryu=睡龍” is a large-boned saké which possesses extreme purity and great ageing potential, and “Hatsugasumi=初霞” is bringing warm, calm and relaxing mood to you.
Real Kimoto(生酛) saké requires at least five years ageing to be ready to drink and we never release Kimoto version of Suiryu(睡龍) at young stages, said Kato toji of Kubo-Honke Shuzo(加藤杜氏／久保本家酒造). This is the reason why all Kimoto version of Suiryu which you can see is older vintages. Kimoto-no-dobu(生酛のどぶ) is released relatively earlier because Moromi(醪=mash) soften the texture of saké.
*Kimoto(生酛) is a natural and traditional way of saké making. The wild yeast makes a strong structure and unique flavour. This method requires much time and effort.
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