Our Producers
造り手たちMeet the 11 breweries and wineries we partner with
Okuda Shuzoten (OKD)
Founded during the Enpō era (1673–1681), making it one of Akita's oldest breweries at over 350 years. The brand name comes from a poem composed by the first owner, describing the lush green mountains visible from town in early summer. The shop and main building were designed by renowned postwar architect Seiichi Shirai and are registered as a National Tangible Cultural Property. One of the smallest breweries in the prefecture; the current 18th-generation owner, Shigenori Okuda, also serves as the brewmaster.
Azakura Shuzo (AZK)
Founded in 1886. The brand name comes from "Azakura Castle," an alternate name for Yokote Castle, the symbol of Yokote City. Brewing is led by Toshio Terui, a master of the Sannai brewing lineage — one of Japan's five great regional brewing traditions — using Akita-style cold, slow fermentation. The brewery's philosophy is "having no fixed approach is our approach," brewing exclusively with local Akita rice. The current president is Akihiro Nobukawa.
Naba Shoten (NBA)
The brewery's roots in sake brewing trace back to 1807, with individual founding in 1871 in the port town of Tsuchizaki. The name "Ginrin" (silver scales) comes from a line in the folk song "Soran Bushi" — dancing silver scales, the gull's harbor, the day of a great catch rises — chosen as a wish for the local fishermen's safety and bountiful catches. The brewery's head has traditionally taken the hereditary name Saburo-emon Nawa.
Kodama Jozo (KDM)
Founded in 1879 by Kumenosuke Kodama as a miso and soy sauce brewery in what is now Katagami City. The brewery began sake production in 1913, naming its brand after the local landmark Mt. Taihei. In 1933 it released Japan's first-ever chilled sake, and the following year won first place out of 5,169 entries at the National Sake Competition. The current head is 5th-generation president Shinichiro Kodama. The brewery also produces Akita's first craft gin.
Dainagawa (DNG)
Founded in 1914 as "Bizen Shuzo Honten" at the foot of Mt. Horoha in the Yokote basin — home to the nationally designated "Shimotsuki Kagura" ritual dance. In 2019, after falling into financial difficulty, the brewery was revived under new ownership by Bungo Tanaka, a former major beer company executive with brewery management experience, and relaunched as "Dainagawa Co., Ltd." Its philosophy: not just sake that intoxicates the body, but sake that intoxicates the heart. Brewing is led by Sannai-lineage master brewer Yoshinao Sato.
Sato Shuzoten (SAT)
Founded in 1907 by Kyukichi Sato at the foot of Mt. Chokai in Yashima. The brand name comes from the mountain's majestic, Fuji-like silhouette — hence "Dewa no Fuji," the Fuji of the Dewa region. Brewed with mountain spring water and consumed almost entirely within the local Yashima community, making it a genuinely hard-to-find regional treasure. The current president is Hiroyuki Sato.
Chitosezakari (CTZ)
Founded in 1872, the sole sake brewery in Kazuno City. Named "Chitose" (a thousand years) by founder Mosuke Tamura as a wish for longevity, later renamed "Chitosezakari" in 1922. The company underwent wartime consolidation and postwar reorganization, becoming "Kazuno Meishu Co." before adopting its current name, Chitosezakari Shuzo, in 2019. Its brewing facility has a distinctive semi-underground structure built into a hillside, reflecting the brewery's philosophy: brewing small, brewing with care.
Mutsumi Winery
Located in Tenno, a coastal town between Akita City and the Oga Peninsula, Mutsumi Winery opened in 2021/2022 as a community contribution project by the long-established local landscaping company Mutsumi Zoen Doboku. It cultivates 10 grape varieties across more than 2 hectares of coastal, sandy terroir facing the Sea of Japan, producing roughly 4,000 bottles a year through natural fermentation with no added sugar — a genuine micro-winery philosophy shaped by sea breeze and harsh winters. It has exhibited at ProWein and the London Wine Fair.
Winery Konohana
Winery Konohana is a small winery in the Tokito district of Kosaka Town, Kazuno, located within the local shopping district of Hanawa itself. Working with Japanese wild-grape (yamabudo) hybrid varieties, it produces roughly 10,000 bottles a year, almost entirely by hand, without oak barrels — a natural-wine philosophy built around expressing the character of the land as directly as possible. The winery also produces cider from local apples.
TOYOSHIMA FARM
TOYOSHIMA FARM, in Yashima, Yurihonjo City, is Akita's 7th winery, established in 2024 through crowdfunding with a mission centered on keeping local agriculture alive. Its founder, a "U-turn" migrant from an urban area, began growing wine grapes in 2016, planting roughly 4,000 vines across six international varieties using trellis training — the international standard for wine grapes. Self-produced wine sales only began in 2025, in partnership with JR East, making the winery's output genuinely rare and small-batch.
Ogresse Quete
Ogresse Quete was founded in 2023 in Oga City by Hidetoshi Hiragata, owner of the Belgian beer specialty bar "ZOT" in Akita City, as a project to revitalize his hometown of Oga. The name — French for a female ogre's adventure — is an affectionate nod to Oga's famous "Namahage" demon folklore. The brewery occupies the ground floor of its building, with a beer café upstairs offering panoramic views of the Sea of Japan, and every beer in the lineup is named as a pun on a local Oga tourist landmark.
