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Nada Gogo Sake Breweries | Overview
Located between Osaka and Kobe, Nada Gogo is Japan's largest sake-producing region. The term "Nada Gogo" refers to the five sake-producing districts: Nishigo, Mikagego, Uozakigo, Nishinomiyago, and Imazugo. The sake made here is known as "Nada sake," crafted with Hyogo's famous Miyamizu water and Yamada Nishiki rice, using the superior brewing techniques of Nada Gogo. This area is often referred to as "Japan's number one sake region."
Many famous sake breweries in Nada Gogo offer free tours. For a day trip, consider visiting breweries like Sakuramasamune, Kiku-Masamune, Hakutsuru Sake Brewery Museum, Hamafukutsuru, and Kobe Shushinkan. On our recent visit to Nada Gogo, due to the New Year's holidays, some breweries were still closed. However, we managed to visit Sakuramasamune, Kiku-Masamune, Hakutsuru, and Kobe Shushinkan.
If you're not familiar with sake and would prefer a guided tour, you can also opt for a sake-tasting tour with a local guide.
Nada Gogo Sake Breweries | Transportation
Getting to the Nada Gogo breweries is quite convenient. You can take the Hanshin Line and get off at Uozaki Station, from where you can walk to the various sake brewery museums. Uozaki is not a major tourist spot, consisting mostly of residential areas, but there are signs guiding you to the brewery district, making it easy to find your way.
Nada Gogo Sake Breweries | Itinerary
Sakuramasamune Memorial Hall
Sakuramasamune is a sake brewery with a 400-year history and one of the three major breweries in Uozaki. The Sakuramasamune Memorial Hall itself is quite small, spread over two floors. The second floor features displays of historical artifacts and a film showing the traditional sake brewing process. One of the more interesting exhibits is a collection of sake bottles produced over the last century. Some bottles are sealed, but you can see varying levels of liquid due to evaporation over the years, a result of older sealing techniques.
On the first floor, there is a shop where you can sample one type of sake for free, or try a paid tasting of three different varieties. The brewery restaurant "Sakuraen" is also famous for its kaiseki (traditional multi-course) meals, but reservations are required in advance.
Kiku-Masamune Sake Brewery Museum
Kiku-Masamune, located in Mikagego, is the second-oldest brewery in the area, with a history spanning over 350 years. The Kiku-Masamune Sake Brewery Museum preserves the features of the old brewery, and it has the most comprehensive display of the sake brewing process out of all the breweries. If you're looking to learn about sake brewing but have limited time, Kiku-Masamune is the place to visit.
Even from outside the museum, you can spot the traditional waterwheels and other brewing equipment. Inside, the exhibition area is quite large, resembling a museum. The main exhibit showcases Kiku-Masamune's prized "Kimoto" brewing method. This traditional method involves hand-mixing koji, brewing water, and steamed rice to cultivate the "moto" (yeast starter), a process that takes four weeks. The museum also features QR codes that provide multilingual information via smartphone, making it easier to understand the entire brewing process.
The tasting area offers samples of unpasteurized sake, and you can also find Kiku-Masamune’s famous daiginjo and junmai sake on display. The shop even sells skincare products made with sake. One of the most popular items among tourists is the sake ice cream, priced at 350 yen. Unfortunately, during our visit, the ice cream stand was closed, but many visitors were still inquiring about it.
Hakutsuru Sake Brewery Museum
Hakutsuru BrewingHakutsuru's sake is a well-known brewery, and the current memorial hall is a reconstruction of a 100-year-old brewery, with exhibits of past processes. Unlike Kiku-Masamune, which insists on old-fashioned brewing, Hakutsuru's sake is now produced by machine.
The Hakutsuru exhibition area features scenes and videos of dolls demonstrating the use of equipment, which is quite lively, but unlike Kiku-Masamune, there are no foreign language translations to watch. However, unlike Kiku-Masamune, there is no foreign language translation available. Luckily, I have already seen the production process of Kiku-Masamune, so it is easy to understand.
Hakutsuru offers a wide variety of products, including plum wine, grape wine, and cosmetics in addition to sake. Their tasting area is the most generous, offering samples of various types of sake for free, though you’ll need to pay for the more premium selections. Personally, I didn’t find Hakutsuru's sake as appealing compared to others.
Kobe Shushinkan
Kobe Shushinkan is the home of the famous "Fukuju" sake brand. While Fukuju is an old brewery, in recent years it has established itself as a world-class brand, focusing on promoting sake globally. The brewery itself still looks like an old sake factory, though its exterior is more modern and understated. Kobe Shushinkan offers free guided tours, including English explanations, but reservations are required. Unfortunately, the brewery was closed during our visit due to the New Year's holidays.
Among all the breweries we visited, Kobe Shushinkan had the best tasting experience. They offer a wide variety of free samples, including some rare selections. I highly recommend trying their "Kurazake Nama," which is a type of unpasteurized sake (raw sake). This sake is rich in flavor but has a short shelf life due to the lack of pasteurization, making it difficult to find outside the brewery. The tasting area allows you to sample different types of namazake, such as junmai, daiginjo, and junmai ginjo, and you can even purchase these by weight. Both the junmai ginjo and daiginjo namazake were outstanding.
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