Hachinohe Shuzo, Maker of "Mutsu Hassen", to Double Production Capacity with New Brewery

Hachinohe Shuzo, known for its sake brands “Mutsu Hassen” and “Mutsu Otokoyama”, has begun building a new brewery. The company is based in Hachinohe, a port town on the Pacific side of Aomori Prefecture, at the northern tip of Honshu. In early August 2026, a groundbreaking ceremony (jichinsai) was held at the construction site. A jichinsai is a traditional Japanese ritual in which the land is purified and prayers are offered for safety before building work begins. Once the new brewery is complete, sake production capacity will be roughly double its current level, and the company’s president says he wants to direct the additional output towards developing overseas markets.

A new brewery with 4,800 square metres of floor space

The new brewery will be built in the Hachinohe Kita Interchange No. 2 Industrial Park in Shiriuchi-cho, Hachinohe. It will be a two-storey steel-frame building with a total floor area of about 4,800 square metres. Around 30 people attended the groundbreaking ceremony, including Hachinohe Shuzo staff and construction personnel, and prayed for the safety of the works. Construction is due to begin after the ceremony, with completion targeted for the end of September 2027. Press reports say the aim is to be operational “next autumn”, so brewing with the new equipment could begin as early as the 2027 winter brewing season.

“There is still plenty of room to develop overseas”

Shozaburo Komai, president of Hachinohe Shuzo, says he wants the new brewery to be an opportunity to expand sales channels abroad. According to the president, while he naturally wants to spread sake further within Japan, overseas markets still offer plenty of room for development, and that is where he wants to focus his efforts. The investment to double capacity can be read as a decision based not only on domestic demand but on the premise of expanding exports. Popular brands often have limited output and sometimes fail to reach overseas markets in sufficient quantities. With greater production capacity, there may be more room in the volumes that can be sent to overseas markets, including Europe.

The harbour-town brewery to become a visitor facility

The current brewery is in the Minatomachi district, close to Hachinohe’s harbour. Once the new brewery is finished, the centre of sake production will move to the industrial park. For the time being, the existing brewery is expected to be used as a facility for receiving visitors. Keeping the building in which sake has long been made while shifting production to efficient new equipment is a choice that balances traditional brewing with larger scale.

For European readers, this news is a positive sign that “Mutsu Hassen” may become easier to find in the future. A good first step is to look for the names “Mutsu Hassen” and “Hachinohe Shuzo” in the lists of specialist sake shops and importers. If you find them, try two or three different types from the same brewery side by side; it makes the brewery’s character much easier to grasp. From 2027, when the new brewery is fully up and running, it will be worth watching how the range and volumes reaching Europe change.