Introducing Kikubijin Sake Brewery

We just brought in our first sake brewery from Kyushu,  Kikubijin Sake Brewery from Kurume City in Fukuoka Prefecture. Kikubijin means Chrysanthemum beauty, the flower symbolizing royalty, and also prosperity and longevity. 

Founded in 1735, it is around a 45min drive from Hakata City, the capital of Fukuoka, or a quick 15mins via Shinkansen. Kurume City is most famous for the invention of the Tonkotsu Ramen. The city has many tasty yakitori restaurants. It is also a great place to visit for fruit farms, you can do fruit pickings for  grapes, strawberries, persimmons, pears, and figs. 

There are 3 important people to know at the brewery. President Shunsuke Ezaki has been at the helm for many years. He has been taking a lot of important roles, one of the largest being the chairman of the Fukuoka sake association for 12 years. He was awarded the Medal with Blue ribbon in 2022, this is given to individuals who have made significant achievements in the areas of public welfare and service. 

Ryuichiro Ezaki is earmarked to be the 10th generation president of the brewery. After studying overseas and working in Tokyo for a number of years, he returned to the family business in 2024. He is busy learning the ropes, and getting familiar with sake brewing. 

Nobuhisa Kuroda is the Toji master of Kikubijin. Graduating from the prestigious Tokyo University, he retired from corporate life to begin his next life as a sake brewer. With great attention to detail, he refined Kikubijin's sake through meticulous koji production, and stringent control over the moromi.

Currently Kikubijin currently has a modest production size of 330koku (60kl). With their new head brewmaster winning many gold medals over the last couple of years, they have just gone through a new rebranding. The brewery is almost 300 years old. In the past, there were 40 breweries around the area, however, they are now the only ones left.

How Kikubijin survived was by rejecting overly modern equipment. For example, they are one of the few that do not use the Yabuta press,  and instead use the traditional fune & shizuku pressing methods.

Kikubijin's label & songs were written by famous poet, Hakushu Kitahara. The poet's sister was married to Kikubijin's ex-president in 1900. His works is still retained in the brewery's michiya and also the family home.

On 31st July, we organised Nomi-Kai #57 inviting sake enthusiasts to The Art of Sake for an evening of discovering more about Kikubijin. During the tasting, Adrian went through the history of Kikubijin and tastings including Kikubijin Tokubetsu Junmai Suzunari, kikubijin Junmai Ginjo Yunagi, Kikubijin Daiginjo Tsukubae & Kikubijin Junmai Daiginjo Kamri. 

The tastings was well-received from our guests of the evening and we look forward to hosting more Nomi-Kai for the Sake Community in Singapore.  

It is now available in store and online at The Art of Sake.

See more of Kikubijin's collection and bring it home with you!

See you at the next Nomi-kai!

The Art of Sake