Akita · Japan

Brauereien

Die elf Produzenten hinter den Flaschen von MADE IN AKITA – kleine Sake-Brauereien, Mikro-Weingüter und eine Craft-Brauerei in Akita, Nordjapan.

SakeDaisenseit 1673

Okuda Shuzoten奥田酒造店

Chiyomidori 千代緑

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.

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SakeYokoteseit 1886

Azakura Shuzo阿櫻酒造

Azakura 阿櫻

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.

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SakeAkita City (Tsuchizaki)seit 1871

Naba Shoten那波商店

Ginrin 銀鱗

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.

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Sake · GinKatagamiseit 1879

Kodama Jozo小玉醸造

Taiheizan 太平山

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 brewery also produces Akita's first craft gin.

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SakeYokoteseit 1914

Dainagawa大納川

Dainagawa 大納川

Founded in 1914 as "Bizen Shuzo Honten" at the foot of Mt. Horoha in the Yokote basin. In 2019, after falling into financial difficulty, the brewery was revived under new ownership by Bungo Tanaka, a former major beer company executive, and relaunched as "Dainagawa Co., Ltd." Its philosophy: not just sake that intoxicates the body, but sake that intoxicates the heart.

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SakeYurihonjo (Yashima)seit 1907

Sato Shuzoten佐藤酒造店

Dewanofuji 出羽の冨士

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 — "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.

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SakeKazunoseit 1872

Chitosezakari千歳盛酒造

Chitosezakari 千歳盛

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. Its brewing facility has a distinctive semi-underground structure built into a hillside, reflecting the brewery's philosophy: brewing small, brewing with care.

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WineKatagami (Tenno)seit 2021

Mutsumi Wineryむつみワイナリー

mia

Located in Tenno, a coastal town between Akita City and the Oga Peninsula, Mutsumi Winery opened in 2021/2022 as a community project by a long-established local landscaping company. It cultivates 10 grape varieties across more than 2 hectares of sandy coastal terroir facing the Sea of Japan, producing roughly 4,000 bottles a year through natural fermentation with no added sugar. It has exhibited at ProWein and the London Wine Fair.

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WineKazuno (Hanawa)seit 2017

Winery Konohanaワイナリーこのはな

Tokito 鴇

A small winery in the Hanawa shopping district of Kazuno, named after the Tokito district of Kosaka Town. Working with Japanese wild-grape (yamabudo) hybrid varieties, it produces roughly 10,000 bottles a year almost entirely by hand, without oak barrels — expressing the land as directly as possible. It also makes cider from local apples.

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WineYurihonjo (Yashima)seit 2024

TOYOSHIMA FARM豊嶋ファーム

Harmonie アルモニ

Akita's 7th winery, established in 2024 through crowdfunding with a mission of keeping local agriculture alive. The founder began growing wine grapes in 2016, planting roughly 4,000 vines across six international varieties on trellises. Sales of its own wine began only in 2025, making the output genuinely rare and small-batch.

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Craft BeerOgaseit 2023

Ogresse Queteオグレスクエット

oga.

Founded in 2023 in Oga City by Hidetoshi Hiragata, owner of the Belgian beer bar "ZOT" in Akita City, as a project to revitalize his hometown. The name — French for a female ogre's adventure — is a nod to Oga's "Namahage" folklore. The ground floor is the brewery, upstairs a beer café overlooking the Sea of Japan, and every beer is named as a pun on an Oga landmark.

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