Trying to fill the Sake Dex, I was looking for a brewery that was close to Tokyo to do a daytrip for. My eyes fell upon the Ide brewery in Kawaguchiko. This small quaint village is located near the base of Mount Fuji, and with its lovely lake at the centre of the town, it is a popular destination for travellers from everywhere. And then it hit me, even though I have been in Japan often, I have never been to Kawaguchiko. And it being in proximity of Sasaichi brewery, I decided it would be a great time to visit both.
Ide brewery offers tours, and they are easily booked on their website. To do the tours, these are required to be submitted before 16:00 the day before. I took the train to get to the brewery, since it was the easiest way to get there from Sasaichi, but the town can also be reached by using the bus from Shinjuku. To be honest, I am glad I took the train. Arriving at the station, I was a bit overwhelmed by the sheer number of tourists embarking and disembarking from the busses. Thankfully, the brewery is located very close to the train station, so after a 10-minute walk, I was glad to reach the brewery.
The tour took us all around the brewery. Starting at fermentation tanks, we first got to see a movie about how they make sake at the brewery. I am usually not a fan of videos during tours, but our tour guide, Miss Oishi, gave us a lot of in-depth information about the brewing process. Ide brewery still does a lot by hand, which to me, has a lot of charm.
To my surprise, the brewery also started to make whisky in 2020. Importing barrels from Scotland, this brewery makes grain whisky from rice. At the barrel storage location there were a couple of bottles showcasing the different age-stages of their whisky.
The tour finished with a tasting of their products: 3 sake, an umeshu and their 2 year old grain whisky. In order there were:
- Ide Daiginjo 15%, 40% polishing rate
- Ide Tokubetsu Junmai 15%, 60% polishing rate
- Tenkasanroku Fujinoyama Honjouzou 15%, 65% polishing rate
- Umeshu 9%
- Daijukai Grain & Malt Whisky 45%
Their Tokubetsu sake stood out to me. Since the water they use is very soft, the sake here also have a mellow character to them. Their Tokubetsu sake started out mellow, but soon filled the mouth with a lot of umami. All sake were very easy to drink. The umeshu was very sweet, not too much to my liking to be honest. As expected, the grain whisky was too young, but let’s not judge it too soon. Great things take time.
Overall, the visit to Ide brewery was quite a nice one. The tour guide had a lot of stories to tell about the brewery, and since its very small, it has its own charm. Quite the ride from Tokyo, but if you are in the neighbourhood, give it a go. But be sure to book on time!
Ide Jozoten
〒401-0301
8 Funatsu, Fujikawaguchiko, Minamitsuru District, Yamanashi
10 minute walk from Kawaguchiko Station
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