Fukugao Sake Brewery: Earnestly Handcrafted, Brewed with the Five Senses

About Fukugao Sake Brewery
Our Passion for the Palate at Fukugao Sake Brewery

Three Discerning Aspects of Fukugao Sake Brewery

Fukugao Sake Brewery is passionate about its perennially brewed sake, marked with the following features:

Impeccably harmonious taste rendered between subtle sweetness and mellow tanginess
Rich fragrance of savory rice
Restrained full flavors that never tire the palate

The Rice: Sake Strains Yamadanishiki, Koshitanrei, Gohyakumangoku
Rice strains made of large grains that readily absorb water are called sakamai and suited for brewing sake. Fukugao selects nationally high-quality rice strains: locally grown Gohyakumangoku and Koshitanrei, as well as Yamadanishiki rice from Hyogo Prefecture. For its premium grade sake, Fukugao brews with the highest quality Yamadanishiki of Hyogo Special District ‘A,’ polished to 40%, in order to acquire the noblest taste and aroma.

The Water: Niigata’s Famed Source, the Best Soft Water from Ikarashi River
Fukugao draws its water from the Ikarashi River, which is then purified by slow filtering. Undergoing no chemical treatment, the famed raw water is gently filtered by passing the source through fine sand for sweet-tasting, safe water close to nature’s great taste of pure river springwater. The Ikarashi River produces extra-soft water, the source for smooth, mild, and great-tasting sake brewed by Fukugao.

Handcrafted Sake: Discernment of the Five Senses and Art of Echigo Brew Masters
Fukugao Sake Brewery is not a mass producer on factory lines. We are a small brewer, grounded in handcrafted brewing. Handcrafted brewing produces outstanding sake through controls reliant upon the rigorously trained “five human senses.” Across all of the complicated, exquisitely handled processes in sake brewing, the thoroughly honed techniques of master brewers maintain the sake production at Fukugao in optimum condition. Niigata brew masters have exploited the extra-soft water of the Ikarashi River, known for its weak fermentation capacity, and completed the technology for brewing sake from extra-soft water through years of experience and ceaseless research. The sake of Fukugao Sake Brewery is the product of the honed five senses and skills held by Niigata brew masters.

Sake brewing chants sung by the brewers

Fukugao's Sake

Flavor Matrix of Fukugao Sake Brands

Select your preferred sake from this flavor matrix.

Matching Sake and Cuisine with Our Flavor Matrix

We have correlated our sake brands and matching cuisine according to the flavor matrix.

Products of Fukugao

Daiginjo Genshu Echigo Ikarashigawa
Daiginjo Echigo Ikarashigawa
Junmai Daiginjo Echigo Heiya
Junmai Daiginjo Usuya
Junmai Ginjo Echigo Heiya
Ginjo Echigo Ikarashigawa
Tokubetsu Junmai Echigo Ikarashigawa
Junmaishu Echigo Heiya
Le Lectier Sake
Sake stored in whisky casks.FUKUGAO
Sake stored in bourbon casks. FUKUGAO
Sake stored in brandy casks. FUKUGAO

Sake Brands of Fukugao Sake Brewery

Household Motto of Fukugao Sake Brewery

Shouji Kobayashi, the first head of Fukugao Sake Brewery founded the business in 1897. He aspired to make people happy with sake, to make exceptional sake that could not help but make people smile. In short, making sake that makes the face express delight. The second-generation Shouji Kobayashi inherited the aspirations of the first Shouji Kobayashi as the household motto and fundamental spirit of sake brewing in the Kobayashi family, which have passed to the fifth-generation head today.

Household Motto of Fukugao Sake Brewery

Making people with happy faces from sake with a happy face. Fortune lands at the doorstep where laughter rings.

Ebisu, Symbol of Fukugao Sake Brewery

The founding Shouji Koyashi selected Ebisu, one of the Seven Gods of Fortune, as the symbol of Fukugao Sake Brewery.
(Ebisu logo displayed at Fukugao Sake Brewery, forged by local craftsman in Sanjo.)
An often-smiling face with a fond gaze is described in Japanese as an “Ebisu face,” a sign of happiness, and the symbol of somebody with the happy face or fukugao that our founder Shouji Kobayashi envisioned. Thus, Ebisu became the symbol of Fukugao Sake Brewery.
Legends recount that Ebisu is a child of Okuninushinomikoto, the great deity and original ruler of Japan. Ebisu is the god of fishing, commerce, and farming who brings fortunes of large catches, prosperous business, and bountiful grain harvests.
As the symbol of Fukugao Sake Brewery, Ebisu has adorned our vessels and bottles. The drink brings fortune and provides the most joyous moments in life. The sake of Fukugao makes everyone merry and have an Ebisu face.

About Us
Welcome from Akira Kobayashi, Fifth-Generation Owner

Kobayashi Akira, fifth-generation owner

The household motto and legacy of First-Generation Shouji Kobayashi, “Make great-tasting sake that places a happy face on the drinker, make sake that makes happy faces, and make people happy with sake,” have driven our passion for brewing sake. The Echigo brew masters and brewhouse craftsmen engage in genuine brewing with supreme technology. Some of our challenges barely break even in the endeavor to show the character of a small brewhouse. Success is sweet—we feel satisfied as brewers. With pride and our creed, we are committed to providing sake that delights our customers. Enjoy Fukugao Sake, whose flavors range the seasons and where handcrafted effort commands a discerning heritage.