BISHONEN

Bishonen, the brewery located in Kumamoto was founded in 1752. ‘Bishonen’ means ‘Handsome boy’ and it comes from one of the men who liked drinking in a Chinese ode, Eight Immortals of the Wine Cup. They draw infiltrated water up from Kikuchi Valley which is selected one of the Best Waters in Japan!  They use local rice for their sake. Normally sake is made from sake rice, but some of their brands use the mixture of sake rice and food rice which emphasises umami from rice. Brewers there are young (20s-30s) and they actively develop their Sake while they protect its tradition! One of their brands Aotenjo especially tells their passion. Normally Sake is made like a champaign meaning that it should keep the same aroma and flavour every year no matter how rice production goes. However Aotenjo has been evolved in its aroma and flavour like a wine year by year. Aotenjo means ‘no limits to grow’ and the young and energetic brewers want to pursue the best aroma and flavour for it!