Farmers monitoring the growth of Omachi natural sake-brewing rice
I give advice to farmers to brew wine and hard ciders, farmers of remote area tends to see that city girl from Tokyo knows nothing about what farmers doing.   I did not stop visiting farmers, driving back and forth between Tokyo and Nagano.  And then I had a chance to talk about the advantage of having a small winery in the vineyard or backyard of a farmer's home.  Those moments are valuable to me and I would like to repeat those in Hawaii.

In Hawaii, the innovation of agricultural cultivation, and then the production of products using crops, may be waiting for new input.  So when I found a cheap airline ticket, I went the islands and listened to the voices of plants in the valley, and visited not only Oahu but also farmers on Kauai and The Big Island of Hawaii.  I believe fermented foods using Hawaiian crops could contribute to the local agriculture.

 

 

 

 

 

Our sake brewery opens along Queen Street in the heart of Kakaaco, a city of sake.  It is close to the Ala Moana Shopping Center, the world's largest shopping mall
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Till we decide the 753 Queen Street as the future home of sake production, we spend over two-years of researching.  

Honolulu's land is mainly owned by the big foundation of Hawaiian people.  It is rare to have land that can be used for food manufacturing.

When our research did not show much progress, I decided to follow the teachings of our predecessors.  Where did they make sake in this town?  The Kakaaco district has recently attracted five new beer breweries.  The old newspaper advertisement shows once the place of sake brewery.  Our brewery is just two blocks away from there.

To the left towards the mountains is the financial district of downtown Honolulu. To the right are commercial areas such as the Ala Moana Shopping Center. The Kakaaco was an industrial area capable of producing sake.

Me working on exterior wall painting

The sake will be fermented from This October.  I like to follow the authentic way of sake making even though we have no snow or cold outside world.

My way of making sake incorporates a traditional method widely used in Japan.

That's why compact custom-made pressing machine was loaded from Kobe Port to Honolulu.  At the time, the port of Kobe was closed down due to massive flood damage along the coast, and the machine took longer time to travel and arrived at Honolulu Port via an unscheduled foreign port.

The sake of the first production is delivered to you with the wind of Aloha.

 

Introduction of brew master, Dr. Chiaki Takahashi 

Brewing researcher. Wine and sake brewing consultant. Graduated from Nihon Medical University Graduate School of Medicine. She is engaged in the work of scientists elucidating the phenomenon that the diet does not pass through the throat when stressed.　

During the research, she encountered an event that she feels stressed strongly, and drinking sake relieved her from the condition.  She thought the future of humanity might be brighter if the research on sake progress than research prevention of disease.  She decided to change course of study and entered the world of alcohol. 

In 2011, when she worked at the Wine Fermentation Center at the University of Yamanashi, she succeeded in collecting yeast from Fuji Goko lake water, and made wine with the yeast.  After that, she promoted to be a researcher at the National Liquor Research Institute to teach how to make sake.  In particular, when yeast is under moderate stress, it produces a variety of substances with alcohol, which sends out the aroma and unique taste of sake.  She often presents a teaching seminar on the relationship between stress and fermentation is the key to brew better sake.
 

She teaches brewing at Shiojiri Shigakan High School in Shiojiri City, Nagano.  The high school students are engaged in unusual initiatives ranging from grape cultivation to wine making

Also, she teaches at small wineries, high schools, and universities throughout Japan.   She also brewed sake by herself when she was a researcher, and was instructed by Mr. Naohiko Noguchi, the super brew master of Ishikawa prefecture.  In 2017 and again in 2019 she served as a judge of the U.S. National Sake Appraisal.

Her parents' home is a Buddhist temple in Tokyo, where the one of the biggest sake retail shop, Koyama Shoten of Tama City is nearly located.  Because the temple is the center of community, there have been many years of relationship between Koyama Shoten and the temple's activity.
She also has a priest's license to practice at the Buddhist temple.

 

Aware the risk & challenge

We will start producing sake in Hawaii in October 2019, and we schedule to deliver sake to supporters by the end of spring 2020, but this project will be the first new initiative and challenge. There is a possibility that the production schedule greatly delays in the case of an unexpected situation.

Thank you for your understanding and cooperation.

* Underage drinking is prohibited by law.
* Please refrain from drinking alcohol during pregnancy and lactation.
* Please note that we cannot provide sake, for minors. 
※ 2019.08.31 Added- Japanese government restricted oversea brewery to not call sake as Nihonshu in Japanese written material.  Please be aware that the bottle label uses the Japanese word of Seishu instead of Nihonshu.  For an English speaker, it is not matter, sake is sake.