Kikusui Brewery

With 130 years of history on their shoulders, the Kikusui Sake Company of Niigata prefecture built themselves up from the bottom. The name "Kikusui" is a reference to a Noh theatre play, wherein the dew (Sui) from the petals of chrysanthemums (Kiku) grant eternal life. In 2004 they established the Kikusui Sake Research Institute in an effort to both raise the bar on the quality of their offerings and wrestle with concepts such as enjoyment of sake, and sake culture. In 1976, Kikusui was proud to introduce "Funaguchi": Japan's first commercially available Nama (unpasteurized) sake.