The town of Takamori is surrounded by the five peaks of Aso to the north, and the southern ring of the Aso caldera to the south. The climate is cold, with frequent below-freezing temperatures in the winter, but the deep groundwater that bubbles up in the middle of the brewery is almost the same temperature year-round. These conditions are absolutely perfect for making sake. Founded in 1762, Yamamura Shuzo uses water and rice from Aso, processed at the hands of people from Aso, to make sake that fully embodies what Aso is.

During the sake-making season, the interior of the Kamaya room is filled with pillowy clouds of steam. Rice is steamed in a large cauldron sunk into the floor. Once the steamed rice has cooled, it is wrapped in linen cloth and taken to the white-walled storehouse called Man’engura. The workers then hurry up the well-worn stairs to the koji room.

Enormous tanks stand on the first floor of Man’engura. Reizan is made in three steps. After around four weeks of fermentation, it is time for pressing. Unpasteurized, young, freshly pressed sake is then bottled at a high 19% alcohol. This raw sake is only available in the winter.

Reizan is loved by many in the Aso region. It’s very easy to imagine the happy people enjoying sake. “When I was young, during the sake-making season, every day I would go to the staff rooms and say goodnight to them, and they always seemed to be having such a good time drinking together,” reminisces Yataro Yamamura. To Yamamura, sake creates happiness among people. Even after ginjo got really popular and a lot of breweries were trying to make very aromatic sakes, the traditional flavor didn’t change. “Rather than a strong impact, we focus on lighter sakes that pair well with food. Reizan is a sake you can drink for a couple hours and still enjoy.” Yamamura makes sure to think both as a sake drinker and as a sake maker when brewing sake.