Taiyo Sake Brewery is located in Murakami in the northern part of Niigata Prefecture. Murakami is an old castle town and a place of scenic beauty throughout the year. Spring brings the melting snow from the Miomote Rover to feed the rice paddies in the plains before heading out to the Sea of Japan. Murakami is also known for salmon, which spawn up the Miomote River during the autumn before the new snow season starts as the cold winds of Siberia carry across the sea. The new snow signals the start of another sake brewing season.
Taiyo’s history goes back to 1945, when 14 breweries in the Murakami area of Niigata merged into what is now Taiyo Sake Brewery. The synergy of those 14 breweries, some dating back to 1635, helped form the emergence of the brand name Koshino Tama (Spirit of Niigata). Taiyo was one of the pioneers in the production of ginjo class sake, having introduced Daiginjo Taiyozakari in 1972.
Niigata’s sake breweries are well-known for producing world-class handcrafted sake, and Taiyo’s handcrafted sake is the perfect combination of art and science, requiring great devotion of its workers to preserve tradition, yet incorporate scientific analysis into the development of sake brewing. Taiyo’s team uses highly-regarded skills, experience and intuition to produce its premium sake which has received much praise around the world, including being awarded the Gold Medal ten times at the most highly-regarded sake competition in Japan, the National New Sake Awards.
