Iinuma Honke (株式会社飯沼本家)
Iinuma Honke is a brewery in Shisui, Imba District, Chiba Prefecture, making sake under the Kinoene brand. Alongside its brewing, the company runs experiences and shops on its grounds. KIKI lists 3 of its bottles.
- Bottles listed
- 3
- Makes
- Sake and Shochu
- Japan Sake Awards
- 4 golds
Where to buy
What kind of brewery is it?
The Iinuma family is thought to have settled in Shisui about 400 years ago, and the brewery traces its sake making to the Genroku era, when it received permission from the Edo shogunate to make sake for shrines and temples. The business became a commercial sake brewery toward the end of the Edo period, and a brewery was established in the early Meiji era. In the Taisho era, the head of the family, Kiichiro Iinuma, offered land to bring Minami-Shisui Station to the area and moved the brewery's transport onto the railway. Today the brewery centers on the Kinoene brand and also develops experiences and spaces on its grounds.
What makes it distinct
- Water
- Well water drawn from the grounds is used for brewing, rice washing and dilution. The brewery describes its medium-soft water as giving the sake a soft taste.
- Ingredients
- The brewery has an in-house rice polishing facility, which is rare in the prefecture. Rice is polished using a method called flat polishing, which the brewery says leaves less protein in the rice.
- Master brewer
- The toji, who is also the factory head, leads five brewers.
- Style
- The brewery keeps traditional methods while also trying new styles of brewing.
- Yeast
- Only well-chosen sake yeast is cultured in pure form to make the yeast starter.
- Also
- Moromi in large tanks is stirred under computer control, and temperature is managed in fine steps.
Visiting
- Tours
- Shop
- Tasting & food
The brewery offers tours of the sake brewery. Kinoene Magariya, a directly run shop, sells sake and foods, and has a cafe for light meals and drinks.
Compiled with AI from public pages, mainly the brewery’s own site (not yet checked by the brewery)Sources: iinumahonke.co.jp
Bottles from this brewery
The app finds 16 bottles from this maker by their label (3 on this site).
Japan Sake Awards
A prize-winner in 6 of the 9 contests from brewing year 2017 to 2025, with a gold prize in 4.
- Gold prize甲子PDF
- Gold prize甲子正宗PDF
- Gold prize甲子正宗PDF
- Prize (nyusho)甲子正宗PDF
- Gold prize甲子正宗PDF
- Prize (nyusho)甲子正宗PDF
Source: the prize lists of the Japan Sake Awards (National Research Institute of Brewing and Japan Sake and Shochu Makers Association). Brewing year 2019 had no final judging, so no gold prizes.