Gouretsu Shuzo (株式会社剛烈酒造)
Gouretsu Shuzo is a brewery in Hitachiota, Ibaraki, that has made sake since the Edo period. It brews dry sake with hard well water and also produces shochu from buckwheat, barley and sweet potato. It was founded in 1830.
What kind of brewery is Gouretsu Shuzo?
The brewery was founded in the late Edo period in Hitachiota. Its name Goretsu combines a character from the name of its first head, Tominaga Goichiro, with one from the posthumous title of a Mito domain lord. It has brewed on the same site ever since and still uses a brewing building from the Taisho era. It was incorporated in 1931, and the current head, Tominaga Tsugunori, is the sixth generation. It was damaged in the Great East Japan Earthquake and rebuilt by its staff. In recent years it has made small-batch shochu with local farmers, using Satogawa pumpkin and Kanasago buckwheat.
- Water
- Hard well water drawn on the grounds is used for brewing and underlies the clean, dry style.
- Style
- Following the policy that sake should be dry, it keeps making bold, dry sake.
- Other
- It has a wooden distillation building for its shochu.
Can you visit Gouretsu Shuzo?
- Tours
Brewery tours are by reservation only, on weekdays between 9:00 and 17:00, and may not be available at some times of year, so contact the brewery beforehand.
- Shop
The on-site shop can be used without a reservation.
Hours and booking rules change, so check before you go. Official website
Other brewery tours in Ibaraki
Compiled with AI from public pages, mainly the brewery’s own site (not yet checked by the brewery)Sources: gouretsu.jp