"Get Drunk on Gifu Local Sake 2024" was held on September 9th at the Bellesalle Iidabashi Ekimae event hall in Tokyo.
30 breweries from Gifu Prefecture will set up booths, offering a wide lineup of sake, shochu, liqueurs, and other drinks for tasting.
We asked the sake breweries exhibiting at Sake World NFT about their recommended brands for this fall.

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1. Get Drunk on Gifu Local Sake in 2024

Thirty breweries from Gifu Prefecture set up booths and offered tastings of sake, shochu, liqueurs, and more.
Participating breweries are Adachi Brewery, Nihon Izumi Brewery, Komachi Brewery, Miwa Brewery, Takeuchi, Watanabe Brewery, Otsuka Brewery, Tokoro Brewery, Kosaka Brewery, Miyozakura Brewery, Hakusen Brewery, Yamada Yamada Store, Hanamori Brewery, Nunoyahara Brewery, Nakajima Brewery, Wakaba, Chikonoiwa Brewery, Sanzenmori, Hayashi Brewery, Hazama Brewery, Yamauchi Brewery, Iwamura Brewery, Ena Brewery, Hirase Brewery, Funasaka Brewery, Harada Brewery, Hirata Brewery, Okuhida Brewery, Watanabe Brewery, and Kama Brewery. The event is organized by the Gifu Prefecture Sake Brewers Association.
This time the event was held in two parts, with the first part being for people from the liquor industry and the second part being for the general public, and everyone enjoyed tasting fine Gifu sakes in Tokyo for the first time in five years.

2. Characteristics of Gifu Prefecture Sake

Gifu sake is brewed in six regions (Gifu, Seino, Seki, Tajimi, Nakatsugawa, and Hida) using water from the melting snow of many mountains, including the Northern Alps and Mt. Hakusan, and from abundant rivers with abundant water, such as the Nagara River, Hida River, Kiso River, and Ibi River.It is truly a sake nurtured by the beautiful mountains and rivers.
The use of "Hida Homare," a rice variety suitable for sake brewing developed by Gifu Prefecture, and "G Yeast," a sake yeast, is also popular, and breweries are competing not only to produce sake made from nationally distributed sake rice varieties such as Yamadanishiki, Omachi, and Gohyakumangoku, but also to produce sake unique to the prefecture.

3. Tasting report

Hirase Sake Brewery [Takayama City]

▲Hirase Ichibei, 15th generation president and CEO of Hirase Sake Brewery

Kujudama Handmade Junmai　
Specification: Raw rice: Hida Homare, polishing ratio: 60%
"Of the four products we have today, this is the one I most highly recommend. Our brewery uses soft water with a hardness of 4, and because it has a low hardness, the aging process is slow. Another characteristic of soft water is that it produces a finished product with fewer impurities. This is a product that our brewery has been working on for a long time, and I hope you will enjoy this richly flavored sake this autumn.
This sake is also suitable for aging. Please try aging it for no more than two years and see how the taste changes with age.

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Hirase Sake Brewery

Gifu

♯Sake brewery#Gifu

Senkonoiwa Sake Brewery [Toki City]

▲Daizo Nakajima, Representative Director of Senkonoiwa Sake Brewery Co., Ltd.

Sengonoiwa Sake Brewery Junmai Ginjo Genshu (brewed with Sakaori rice terraces)
Specification: Raw material rice: Sakaori rice terraces, polishing ratio: 50%
"Because it is made from undiluted sake, it has a strong flavor, but it has a clean aftertaste. The sake rice used is from the Sakaori rice terraces in Ena City, Gifu Prefecture, which has been selected as one of the 100 best rice terraces in Japan. In cooperation with the local NPO Rice Terrace Preservation Society, I, the brewer, am involved from the rice planting to the harvesting. It has a mellow flavor that lets you taste the umami of the rice. As the weather gets cooler, this is a great drink to pair with hot pot or other warm foods."

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Chikonoiwa Sake Brewery

Gifu

#Gifu♯Sake brewery

Komachi Sake Brewery [Kakamigahara City]

▲Kinbu Chikako, Komachi Sake Brewery Co., Ltd.

Aged Junmai Shichidanshi @1999BY　
Specification: Raw rice: Gifu Prefecture rice, polishing ratio: 65%
"It has been aged in tanks for 25 years. It was left behind by the previous master brewer and is brewed using the seven-stage brewing method, in which the rice is added seven times. It was yellow when it was made, and there were no plans to sell it at first, but by chance a liquor store that specializes in aged sake praised it, which led to it being commercialized.
It has an amber color due to its long-term aging, and has a mild aroma unique to aged sake, with flavors of dried apricots and candy apples. It is characterized by a deep flavor that adds depth to the pure rice sake over the years.

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Komachi Sake Brewery

Gifu

#Gifu♯Sake brewery

Hirata Sake Brewery [Takayama City]

▲Hirata Sake Brewery Sales Promoter Fujio Yamamoto

Hida no Hana Seihaku 90　
Specification: Raw rice: Hida Homare, polishing ratio: 90%
"I would like to recommend everything I have brought with me, but if you could only try one, how about "Hida no Hana Seihaku 90," which has a 90% polishing ratio and is not available at other breweries. Our brewery is particular about small-scale brewing and careful brewing. We have put a lot of thought into the brewing process, and while this is the second season for our 90% polishing ratio sake, this is the first season for us to use the Yamahai method. This product brings out the flavor of the rice, so we hope you will enjoy it as an accompaniment to meals, pairing it with strongly flavored dishes such as simmered dishes and teriyaki."

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#Gifu#NFT♯Sake brewery

Tokoro Sake Brewery [Ibigawa Town]

▲Tokoro Sake Brewery Limited Partnership Representative Partner and Master Brewer, Tokoro Masaru

Usagikokoro BLACK Hida Homare (Limited Edition)　
Specification: Raw rice: Hida Homare, polishing ratio: 65%
How about "Hida Homare" from the Tokoro BLACK series of slightly sparkling pure rice ginjo sake?
This limited edition product was born from the idea of ​​"Japanese sake is a drink to be enjoyed with meals," and is made with the aim of creating a crisp pure rice sake that allows you to fully enjoy the umami and acidity of the rice. It has a slight fizz and contains gas while still allowing you to enjoy the sweetness of the local Gifu rice, so it is a great companion to fried foods and other dishes as it cleanses your mouth while you continue your meal."

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Tokoro Sake Brewery

Gifu

#Gifu♯Sake brewery

Nakajima Brewery [Mizunami City]

▲Nagase Hiroaki, Metropolitan Sales, Nakajima Brewery Co., Ltd.

Junmai Ginjo Bizen Omachi Origarami Nama　
Specification: Bizen Omachi rice, polishing ratio 55%
"This is one of the standard products in the Kozaemon brand, which is exported to 35 countries around the world and uses soft underground water from Byobuyama in the eastern part of the Mino region. It is a sake with a fruity, juicy, gorgeous aroma and the delicious flavor of rice, and while it can be enjoyed on its own, it is also recommended as an accompaniment to strongly flavored dishes. Feel the history and nature of Mino and the passion of the brewer with every sip of this sake."

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Nakajima Brewery

Gifu

♯Sake brewery#Gifu

4　Looking back at the 2024 Tokyo venues, getting drunk on Gifu's local sake

In 5, the first event in five years in Tokyo, fans of Gifu sake lined up in long queues waiting for the doors to open. The excitement after entering was just as hot as when the event was held in the previous venue, Takebashi Joshui Kaikan. The 2024 sake breweries responded to the crowds with a look of satisfaction on their faces, and it was very impressive to see them engaging in a constant stream of exchanges with their fans.
What I felt while visiting other sake breweries besides the ones I reported on was that each brewery continues to try and error on how to respond to consumer trends after the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition to their own traditional brewing, the event gave us a glimpse of the efforts of Gifu Prefecture sake brewers, who are closely acquainted with consumers by expanding their product lineup and proposing drinking styles according to the season, in order to make their products a part of their customers' lives.

Written by Kunie
Before the COVID-19 pandemic, he trained his palate at sake gatherings attended by brewers from "Ogikubo Ichibee" and "Sendagi Inageya," as well as liquor stores in Okachimachi and Nishi-Ogikubo. He took the COVID-19 outbreak as a chance to move to Nagano Prefecture. He still makes time to imitate the work of a sake brewer, help out at a winery, and visit brewery taprooms and distilleries, bringing you the latest information from the "sake swamp" in which he is now deeply immersed.