岩村醸造
Iwamura Sake Brewery

銘柄酒：女城主
創　業：1787年 （江戸 天明7年）
杜　氏：
住所：岐阜県恵那市岩村町342番地
ホームページ：http://www.torokko.co.jp/

Brand：Onnajou-shu
Initiation：1787
Master Brewer：
Address：GifuEna-shi342 Iwamura-cho

Brewery with 200 years of history
- Since its establishment, we have been brewing sake with the mindset of "Rei Rou Fuku Iku"

"Rei Rou" = to have a beautiful, translucent shimmer
"Fuku Iku" = to have an amazing aroma surrounding you

■ The concept of sake brewing
We use our local Gifu Prefecture rice, where we know who have made them. This is then carefully brewed by a professional Touji (a sake brewing master) by his hands. We do not use any tap water for the process, and only use mineral water from the grounds of Gifu. We make sake that brings out the taste of the rice as much as possible, and work for the common goal of creating a high quality, and trustworthy product for our customers.

■ Until the brewery's establishment
It is said that the brewery was first established back in 1787. But, interestingly, back then, it was the deliver service used by the Iwamura group that was the main function, and sake brewing was simply a side-business. After the era has made its change to the Meiji era, the Iwamura group fell, leading to the sake brewing becoming the main function. Later, in 1922, the company was established, and at the same time, we started to make miso, soy sauce, mirin (Japanese sweet vinegar), and sho-chu (a type of sake). However, ever since the WW2 was over, we have been working hard to be the best Japanese sake brewery in our region.

■ What is important in sake brewing
The most important thing in sake brewing is the 'water'. At our company, we have been using mineral water that comes from a well that was built over 400 years ago (chose as the top 50 waters of Gifu Prefecture). We use this so called Kiso river type mineral water for the preparation process, and never use tap water.
We are very lucky with water in Iwamura-cho, and underneath the ground, clear water constantly flows. During the high peaks of sake brewing, there were times that we ran out of water in the well, but this will be filled up within 3 hours from water flowing in. Furthermore, this mineral water is low in its calcium content, which is perfect for sake brewing. When this is combined with the techniques of the Touji, there is this perfect taste in the sake.
Another material that is equally as important is 'rice'. For the main rice, we use the sake rice called "Hidahomare", made in the our area, and for the Daiginjo sake, we use "Yamada Nishiki", a rice from Hyogo Prefecture. The rice is polished up to 52%, and we brew our sake with the aim of all our products having the "ginjo" label. At our brewery, we brew sake with rice polished to, or above 50%, and aim for this to be labeled as "ginjo". (*usually, when rice is polished above 60%, it is called ginjo, and above 50% is called daiginjo)

■ The evolution of Onnajou-shu
At Iwamura-cho, we do not get much snow, but in the time between January to February, the temperature drops to -15 degrees celsius, making the water in the well to steam a little. During the hot summer days, we still maintain the low temperature of 20 degrees celsius in the sake brewery, making it the perfect environment for brewing Japanese sake and storing them as well. (recently, perhaps with global warming taking place, it seems that the temperature does not drop as mentioned here)
Even with this more or less perfect environment, the taste of the sake differs each year. Here at Iwamura sake brewery, we aim for satisfying the constantly changing taste of modern Japanese people, and every year, we make a little bit of change in the brewing process. By doing so, we aim to work for a high quality Japanese sake for our customers.