Miyoshikiku in the news.
Here is a translation of a recent article about Mamiya san and Miyoshikiku. I found out some things I didn't know. Like how he was discouraged and thought to give up many times. I'm glad he didn't.
Enjoy.
The product name of "Reconcile with the cat" is also fragrant individuality, innovative taste brewing Miyoshigiku Shuzo
Asahi Shimbun Digital April 7, 2024 10:15
"Reconcile with cats" "Remains"――. There is a sake brewing company in Tokushima Prefecture that sends out sake one after another, which is characterized by unique product names and illustration labels.
Miyoshi Kiku Sake Brewery, founded 135 years ago. Ryoichiro Mamiya (56), the brewery, said, "I tried to stand out. Even a bad reputation is better than indifference." We continue to challenge innovation without being bound by tradition.
I came back to my family business, Miyoshigiku Shuzo, when I was 25 years old. I left a university in Tokyo and worked as a clerk at a record store.
"The management of the sake brewery is strict, and it is in danger of going out of business." I got a call from my parents. I went back thinking that I could do something if I could help, but the debt was hundreds of millions of yen, the house and land were in the collateral, and I was cornered to the point where there would be no place to live if I quit the sake brewery.
I stopped hiring Toji, who was in charge of sake brewing, and decided to become a toji and make sake myself. 32 years old. I learned how to make sake from the master brewer.
At that time, it was a "winter era" for the sake industry. Many breweries were closed all over the country.
I went around liquor stores in Tokyo with sake made by myself, but it didn't sell well. Mr. Mamiya has three daughters. I've been helping sake brewing since I was young. When Mr. Mamiya came back from Tokyo, he said, "Dad, did you sell alcohol?" I was asked. " I couldn't say that I couldn't sell even one, and I lied, "I sold a lot." When I saw the three sisters happy, I was inspired to say, "I have to work harder."
With the aim of sake that matches the diet of Japanese people who have come to like Western food, and sake that young people drink, I decided to "make delicious sake that is different from traditional dry." It created a unique sake characterized by a fruit-like aroma and sweet and sourness like pineapple juice.
"I was criticized for various things such as strange taste, but it took about 10 years, and the number of people who support me has increased."
Now it has won the first place in the Tokushima Prefecture section of several sake ranking sites. There are not a few bad reviews, but I also take it as a proof of individuality.
There are two types of yeast that affect the taste and aroma of sake. Although it has features, it is difficult to handle, so it is a yeast that is rarely used in other sake breweries. " I prepare sake about 50 times a year, but I've never been able to make my ideal sake."
We have also been working on the "Kashin Sake Project" that is made by giving vibration by music during the brewing process. It is a collaboration with audio equipment manufacturers and IT giants. " The sake that gave vibration is more fermented than the sake that is not given, and it is finished in a rich taste." What kind of music is suitable for brewing is in the process of research.
Nine years ago, there was a surprise. My eldest daughter, Ayane (26), who was in the third year of high school, confided, "I want to go to the Department of Brewing Science at Tokyo University of Agriculture and make sake in the future." After graduation, Ayane joined a sake wholesale company and worked at a liquor store in a department store in Tokyo.
On New Year's Day six years ago, when Ayane, who was a college student, went home, she made sake for the first time with her wife Kazuko (55) and five family members including three sisters. The sake prepared was stored at ice temperature for two years, and then shipped as three kinds of sake named after each sister, and it was sold out.
My second daughter, Orie (24), later graduated from the same university as her sister and is studying in the United States. " If your sister is going to make sake, I'll help you too," he said. The third daughter, Koharu (22), also became a college student.
Mr. Mamiya says that he has thought about quitting the sake brewery dozens of times. However, as a result of the struggle, the debt that amounted to hundreds of millions of yen at one time was almost repaid. Sales, which fell due to the Corona disaster, also recovered by increasing exports. " I'm not thinking of making the sake brewery bigger. I wish one of my daughters could take over and do it with the whole family." (Yoichi Masuda)
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<Miyoshi Kiku Shuzo> Founded in 1889. 5 employees. The production volume is 700 koku (about 70,000 bottles per sho bottle). Sake rice grown by neighbouring contract farmers is prepared in the water of the nearby Matsuo River.