SANRAN
Founded in 1937. The current president is the third generation "Shigeki Tonoike". The name of the Sake is “SANRAN". It represents "shining".
This means that we want everyone who drinks brilliance to shine.
Tonoikeshuzouten is located in Tochigi prefecture. There are about 1400 sake breweries in Japan and 33 in Tochigi prefecture. Tochigi prefecture is rich in natural resources. The snow that falls on the mountains melts and becomes groundwater.
Good quality water is indispensable for sake brewing.
.Sake brewing is only in the cold season. (October-April) Because it's better to be cold for fermentation. All are handmade. Sanran makes about 120,000 litres in one season. They have rules for making beautiful sake. The most important thing is cleaning. Clean it so that there is no dust. Pillars, walls, all tools, entrances, toilets, dining rooms, everything. Sake brewing deals with invisible bacteria, so it is important to completely eliminate bad bacteria.
Every drop of Sanran is the fruit of hard work from Kuramoto (brewing staff), the skills of our Toji (master brewer) and the passion of all people involved in the traditional sake-making process, which takes place during the winter months.
Makoto Ono, Tonoike Sake Brewery’s master brewer, has 18 years of experience and is one of the few sake brewers to hold both the Nanmbu Toji & the Shimotsuke Toji title.
High-quality sake, produced using traditional techniques, has won 42 awards both in Japan and abroad 2019.
Additionally, SANRAN ranked fourth in the 2019 World Sake Brewery Rankings and won 26 awards both in Japan and abroad in 2020.
Since Makoto became the master brewer in 2015, Sanran won 11 Gold awards in 2016 and ranked 2nd (out of 328 brands) in the 2017 National Nambu Toji Sake Competition.
