KURE, Hiroshima >> With the number of domestic sake breweries in decline across Japan, a company in Hiroshima prefecture has developed a unique drink to help revive the industry.
Kure-based Naorai uses a patented technique to make a distilled beverage from sake that it brands as Jo-Chu.
Although similar in name to shochu — the Japanese spirit distilled from ingredients such as barley, brown sugar, rice and sweet potatoes — Naorai places Jo-Chu in a category of its own.
“I wanted to develop a drink similar to whiskey that becomes more valuable the longer it takes to mature,” said Koichiro Miyake, Naorai’s 38-year-old president.
The company rented a shuttered sake brewery in the town of Jinsekikogen that belongs to a 160-year-old sake brewer. Naorai partnered with five breweries in Hiroshima and Shimane prefectures, using their sake to make its regular Jo-Chu and Kohaku Jo-Chu, which is aged in wooden barrels and flavored with lemon peel from lemons grown in the Seto Inland Sea.
About 10% of the sake made by the Yamaoka Sake Brewery in Miyoshi, Hiroshima prefecture, goes to Naorai.
“It would be great if the appeal of sake is conveyed through new ways of enjoying the beverage,” said Katsumi Yamaoka, the brewery’s fourth-generation president.
In fiscal 2019, 1,130 sake breweries were in operation, half the number in business 30 years earlier, according to National Tax Agency data. Small and midsize breweries account for 99% of the total, with about half of them barely making a profit.
“I hope to work with more companies to boost the industry,” Miyake said.
Naorai has its headquarters in the Seto Inland Sea on Mikadoshima island, population 20. The company also has a base on neighboring Osaki-Shimojima island, where it cultivates and processes lemons it grows under the supervision of an organic farmer.
Miyake, whose great-grandfather founded a sake brewery in Kure, was exposed to the industry from an early age. He promoted sake overseas when domestic sales fell, and since 2011, he has been selling sake in Shanghai.
While freshness is vital for good sake, Miyake came up with the idea of a new beverage that improved with age. He worked with an expert to develop a low-temperature distillation process to avoid spoiling the aromas and flavors of the spirit. Miyake patented the technique in 2019 and launched Jo-Chu in 2020.
Naorai sold about 3,000 bottles of Jo-Chu in fiscal 2021 and aims to double that figure this fiscal year.
“The goal is to create a business model that will help revive the sake industry in Hiroshima and then expand that model to preserve breweries and sake culture nationwide,” Miyake said. “We also want to expand the market by promoting the deliciousness of this new drink around the world.”
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