WB041: Old Is Gold
According to this article , in 2019 there were as many as 33,000 businesses in Japan that have existed for at least a 100 years. Famous companies fulfilling this criteria include alcoholic beverage brewer Suntory Holdings Ltd. and gaming console maker Nintendo Co. Ltd.
Last week, I had the opportunity to visit a 323-year old, family-owned sake (Japanese: 日本酒) brewery called Ozawa Brewery (Japanese: 小沢酒造).
The brewery is situated in a village called Sawai (Japanese: 澤井), located in Tokyo's Ome City (Japanese: 青梅市). Sawai is about a 2-hour train ride from Shibuya (Japanese: 渋谷) station to the west of Tokyo.
Background on Ozawa Brewery
One of Tokyo's oldest sake breweries, Ozawa Brewery is owned by Ozawa Shuzo Co. Ltd. (Japanese: 小沢酒造株式会社), a company founded by the Ozawa family in 1702. It is currently helmed by a 23-rd (!!) generation Ozawa.
The brewery is tucked into a lush, hilly area next to the Tama River (Japanese: 玉川) where there's an abundance of pure mountain water. I was told by my wife that breweries in Japan are typically located near good water sources - crucial for producing good quality alcohol.
(L) The brewery is located in a lush, hilly area next to the Tama river. (M) A bridge connecting the brewery to the other side of the river
The brewery produces 30 types of sake under the Sawanoi (Japanese: 澤乃井) brand, named after Sawai village.
Sawanoi sake is sold domestically and also internationally, in countries like the United States, Taiwan, Singapore and Malaysia. The latter is a more recent trend as Japan's aging population forces sake brewers to seek growth overseas. Further compounding the problem is that sake is not as popular among younger Japanese drinkers.
On its grounds, Ozawa brewery also operates two tofu (Japanese: 豆腐) restaurants, a cafe and an open-air seating area where visitors can drink sake while soaking in the beautiful natural surroundings.
As it was a Saturday, the area was fairly busy with local and foreign tourists. In the later part of the afternoon, groups of hikers hiking in the nearby hills descended upon the brewery to enjoy a post-hike drink. It was quite refreshing to soak up the good vibes of people enjoying themselves.
Stepping back in time
We joined a pre-booked, free tour (conducted in Japanese) organised by the brewery. There were about 20 participants.
The tour was held in one of the traditional Edo-period (Japanese: 江戸時代) buildings, where sake is brewed from September to mid-April every year. The building is at least 300 years old and made with thick, earthen walls to ensure the interior temperature is kept stable throughout Japan's four seasons.
There is no air-conditioning system, yet it was a cool 15 degrees inside even though it was 25 degrees outside. The building is also designed to be dark, as sunlight negatively affects sake's fermentation process.
The interior is dark and cool - important to brewing good quality sake
Although it looked sturdy, I felt the gravity of the building's fragility sink in when the tour guide said any damage from a serious natural disaster or fire will render the structure unusable given its age.
The brewery's natural water source - crystal clear water
At the tail-end of the tour, we were taken to a small cave next to the brewery to see kuranoido (Japanese: 蔵の井戸, English: Well of the Brewery), which is one of the brewery's two natural water sources. You can see that the water is crystal clear and pure!
One can easily spend half a day in Ozawa Brewery eating, drinking and being merry. I can foresee myself coming back in summer!
--Ends
