Furusawa Distillery
Odotsu Village, Nichinan City, Miyazaki Prefecture
Situated on a spit of land pinched between the Pacific Ocean and the mouth of the Hosoda River, the main distillery building and adjoining family home is a Taisho Era relic. With mud walls, centuries old ceramic fermentation vats, and obsolete tax office compliant locks on the storage tank lids, you feel as if you have stepped back in time. For much of their history, Furusawa produced a variety of koji-fermented products including sake, soy sauce, miso, vinegar, and mirin. By 1974 they had stopped producing all other products other than resolutely handmade shochu from local agricultural products.
Available from this distillery
Toji Profile: Masako Furusawa
Born on the distillery grounds, Ms. Furusawa has been surrounded by the sights, sounds, and smells of shochu making since birth. She became master brewer-distiller and president in 2007 after her father’s passing. Deeply rooted in the family’s history, Furusawa’s shochu embodies generations of ritual and tradition. All of these products are made by hand using white koji before being distilled just once in an atmospheric pot still. They are then aged for several years in ceramic pots before being moved to enamel tanks for storage.
