The town of Tsunagi, Ashikita County lies in southern Kumamoto Prefecture, near the border with Kagoshima Prefecture. Fruit trees dot the mountainsides, and islands—both big and small—dot the Yatsushiro Sea. The view from the mountains over the town offers a view too beautiful to express in words.

Along Route 3 sits the plaster-finished buildings of the Kameman Shuzo brewery. The history of the brewery starts with the Takeda family, a family of doctors going back generations. The brewery founder Chinju Takeda took the rice he received as payment for medical services and began making sake in 1916. Nearby Kagoshima and Hitoyoshi are famous as meccas for shochu. Kameman Shuzo continues to be the southernmost maker of naturally-brewed sake in Japan. Not using refrigerated rooms has inspired the brewery to look for other ingenious ways to brew successfully.

Doors are opened at night to let in the cool air to the brewery, after which brewing of junmai daiginjo is started. As the sweet rice steam fills the brewery, the brewery comes alive with activity. After watching the steam rise from outside, 3rd-generation owner Shuichi Takeda suddenly runs back in and begins the cooling process. “Daiginjo is a very delicate sake, and so special care needs to be paid to temperature. Because the climate here is warm, we use as little water as possible and instead add a lot of ice to control the temperature of the mash.”

Kameman uses the special Nantan Kori Jikomi sake-making method, which involves adding large amounts of ice to the mash. Workers line up to carry rice into the tanks when it is just the right temperature, and then they rush to carry over huge spears of ice. Everyone is on edge, and you get a sense of what real sake-brewing is like. Fourth-generation head brewer Ryusuke Takeda notes, “When I was studying, some people I met were telling me that Kumamoto Yeast was already old hat. But that’s not true. The only way we’re able to make the sake we want so far south is thanks to the powerful and trustworthy Kumamoto Yeast, and the ingenuity of our forebears. I want to make sake with this yeast that people will want to drink forever!”